13 Days of Christmas
by SilverIceWolf
Summary: Because 12 just isn't inclusive enough! Find out what happens in the thirteen days leading up to Christmas when Xemnas finally agrees to let Organization XIII have a Christmas of their own! Everyone helps out, and madness ensues! Rated for language.
1. Zemmy

A/N: Hey guys, what's up?! Can you believe it's already December? And there really are 13 days until Christmas, I counted. I'm not really sure where the idea for this story came from, but it took off in my imagination and I just HAD to write it down. Granted, I'm not finished with it completely, (still working on finishing chapter 6, nuuuuu!) but there will be a chapter released every day from now until Christmas Day. There's no gauruntee yet, but I might also write a follow-up New Years one-shot. Happy holidays everyone! I hope ya'll enjoy "13 Days of Christmas"!

__

_**13 Days of Christmas**_

_By: SilverIceWolf_

_Day 1: Zemmy_

'_On the first day of Christmas,_

_My Kingdom gave to me,_

_A Zemmy who hates squee!'_

"DECK THE HALLS WITH BOUGHS OF HOLLY! FA-LA-LA-LA-LA, LA-LA-LA-LAAAAAAAAA!" Xemnas clenched his hands into fists repetitively. Swearing that his silvery tresses were that way merely because of the other members in his organization, he muttered under his breath, _I will not kill number nine, I will not kill number nine, I will…_

"'TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY! FA-LA-LA-LA-LA, LA-LA-LA-LA!" Demyx screamed from the backseat.

"Number nine." Xemnas growled, tightening his hold on the steering wheel.

"NOW WE DON OUR GAY APPAREL! FA-LA-LA-LA-LA, LA-LA-LA-LA!" Demyx continued inapprehensively. Axel was sniggering to himself beside the mullet-head; Roxas stared out the window beside him looking utterly bored.

"Number niiine…" Xemnas warned. Well, at least he didn't have a hair left to worry about turning white.

"TROLL THE ANCIENT YULE-TIDE CAR-!"

"NUMBER NINE!" Xemnas exploded. The car went deathly silent save for the tiny "Meep!" uttered by Demyx who was unsuccessfully trying to hide behind Axel. "Would it kill you to remain silent for the remainder of the ride back to the castle?!" The Superior spat through gritted teeth.

"Is that an option?" the Melodious Nocturne squeaked.

"NO, Demyx, that is NOT an option! No more Christmas carols!" Xemnas vented, his eye giving an involuntary twitch.

Axel smirked and leaned forward in his seat, placing a hand by the Superior's headrest. A devilish smile crossed his face as he drawled into the other man's ear, "But _Sir_, it's December! I mean, it's not like he hasn't sung them _all year long_."

"Case and point." Xemnas snapped. "Now sit down, number eight." Axel scoffed and took his seat, slinking down in it. Xemnas shot a look at him through the rearview mirror. "Honestly, number eight. You look like a pouting toddler!" Axel glared back at his boss ferociously, straightening up. With a look of triumph, he turned to Demyx.

"Heeey Demmy! Why don't you sing that song I taught you?"

"What song?" Demyx inquired innocently, sparking a suspicious glance from Xemnas.

"You know… My bologna has a first name…" Demyx smiled broadly and joined in the song.

"It's O-S-C-A-R! My –"

"NO!" Xemnas screamed. "No. _Anything_ but that." By now the poor man was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were white. Demyx whined, and Axel huffed. Roxas, it seemed, had yet to notice any of this. Or maybe he just didn't care. Yeah, that must have been it.

"Do _you_ have a better song for him to sing, your _Superiorness_?" Axel quipped. The silver tressed Nobody snorted indignantly – he had heard enough of Axel's taunts not to care anymore, but it was still degrading. However, this time he had more important things to consider, so he let the off-handed comment slide. Frankly, spending what seemed like an eternity with the hyper blonde had turned the Organization's leader off of music… except for Beethoven. Beethoven rocked. But he could hardly ask Demyx to sing Beethoven, besides for the fact that there weren't any words, he'd probably hum Mozart instead. All of the deceased composers seemed to blend in the towhead's… well, head.

Then, Xemnas considered, perhaps he could demand Demyx sing in Latin. Hmn, that would be amusing. Except that Axel was in the car. Xemnas remembered quite vividly the last time Axel had made up his own Latin lyrics, and shuddered. That was _sooo_ not funny. Country sucked, so that was out of the picture. He could hardly ask for pop, the only songs the sitar player knew were Brittany Spears from God knows where, and "Sexy Back". Once again, thank you Axel! Truth be told, there was only one song that Xemnas could think of at the minute that had both lyrics and was something that Demyx might recognize. But hearing 200 renditions of the "Campfire Song Song" was about the last thing the Superior wanted to hear. Sighing reluctantly, he sunk in his seat. "No, number eight. I have no songs for number nine to sing." Oh yeah, _that_ was dangerous.

"Hmn." Axel grunted, trying to hidehis satisfaction. And for three blissful minutes, the car was silent. Yes, silent. But as Robert Frost would say, "nothing gold can stay", and that was not about to not pertain to this situation either.

"99 BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL! 99 bottles of BEER! Take one down and pass it around, 98 bottle of beer on the wall!" Demyx spontaneously belted out. Xemnas' eyes widened to an unhealthy size, and Axel burst out in a fit of giggles. Roxas sighed and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

Zexion spoke up for the first time that car ride, brushing back his violet bangs with a hand, and they fell back over the right side of his face. His dark blue eyes coruscated slightly as he commented dryly to the man at the wheel beside him, "Don't worry Superior, only 13 more days left of this." Apparently, Xemnas had found his limit.

"WHY. DID IT HAVE. TO BE ME?!" he screamed, slamming his forehead against the center of the steering wheel and thereby honking the little black van's horn quite forcefully. The people awaiting the next light looked around carefully. A guy in a blue Mazda was pulled up beside the Organization's van. He rolled down the window of his car and Xemnas hesitantly did the same.

"What the hell's your problem, buddy?" the guy hollered good-naturedly – obviously, the holiday spirit had rotted out his brain so he was too stupid to realize that he was supposed to sound angry, not like he was talking conversationally to a good friend or neighbor.

"Everything." Xemnas moaned as the light turned green, rolling up his window and speeding off down the road.

* * *

"We're hooome!" Axel yelled as he stepped into the castle's main entryway. This room was small and rectangular, the entryway beyond it being large, spacious, and circular. From here, there were two grand staircases with velvet runners trailing down the steps. While one could go up either of these stairs (to the same destination, as it was little more than a walkway), there was also the option of turning left or right to the halls behind heavy, wooden, doors. The tiling on this first floor was set in precise squares of marbled black, with the exception of the entryways which where a dark flagstone. Despite the elaborate furnishings within the castle and the finery that decorated therein, all of the walls were a drab white that washed out the dramatic crown molding and tall three and a quarter inch baseboards. 

Xemnas had inherited this castle after his "brother" had passed away, but the Organization knew now that that "brother" was only his Somebody, whom had become a Heartless. As a Somebody, Xemnas, or rather, Xehanort, was heir to a very wealthy businessman, although he himself worked as a theorist and scientist. Now the castle served as a dormitory, household, and base of operations for Xemnas' private "business" venture, Organization XIII. To the members therein, it was a sanctuary.

Axel wiped his feet off on one of the several wiry door mats inside and removed his bulky brown jacket, slinging it over his shoulder. He fidgeted impatiently as he waited for the others to file in, slipping into the grand entryway. After a few moments, Demyx came in dragging Roxas along, Demyx in blue and Roxas in red. Axel himself was wearing green. There was a loud scuffling coming from the general direction of the smaller room, or perhaps it was simply Demyx harassing number thirteen. In any case, Zexion emerged in the doorway, pulling at Mr. Cheerful himself to join the others. "Now that we're all assembled." Zexion muttered darkly, shooting Xemnas a deadly glare. Despite being number six in the Organization, Zexion was the only one allowed to threaten the Superior; actually, he was the only one that scared him.

Xemnas hastily broke away from their little group, and turned to stand, agape at what befell his eyes. Woven through the sleek wood railings and banisters were faux pine garlands with snow tipped needles and small red berries interspersed at random. Around the garland was a thick, sheer, ribbon with a red and gold cross-hatched design, and two strings of gold beads. In the center of the railing between the two staircases was a large wreath that matched the garlands, but also included small (and quite reasonably) fake brown nuts and candies. At the base of the wreath was an angel wearing a flowing, gauzy, white dress holding a golden horn in her porcelain hand. Directly below this was a small archway that led to an alcove lined with shelves and bottles – the Organization's personal wine cellar. The entrance was barred by twisted wrought iron gates, installed mainly for the purpose of deterring Axel and Xigbar's bad habits. Through this is was easy to see the rows of wine bottles, each now adorned with a plaid bow situated around their necks. At the top of the archway was the abominable plant… _mistletoe_.

Xemnas gulped nervously. What the hell had become of his dear home?! And more importantly, what lay beyond the doors that flanked him or up the stairs…? Larxene, apparently. The gorgeous blonde leaned over the high railing, smiling and waving down to them. "Good afternoon, Superior!" she called to Xemnas. "Like the decorations?"

"This was _your_ evil?" Xemnas scowled. Being the only woman in the Organization, Larxene naturally had the right to boss the others around. Even Xemnas, or, as she called him, _Zemmy_. Zexion was still the only one who could threaten Xemnas, Larxene just… got away with things. Like calling him Zemmy. Larxene folded her arms beneath her breasts and pouted.

"Don't you like them?" she whined, unable to hide the lie on her face.

"I see your lip quivering, Larxene." Xemnas said exhaustedly, putting a hand to his forehead.

"Oh, you're no fun." She huffed, all hurt pretense gone. Axel shrugged.

"Tch. What's new?" Xemnas shot him a half-hearted glare.

"One day, number eight. One day, you'll get what's coming."

"Ya, well until that day I'm gonna live it up!" The redhead grinned roguishly.

"Men." Larxene breathed, gliding down a set of stairs.

"What are you wearing?" Zexion posed silently.

"Oh, this?" the Savage Nymph blushed. "I just thought I'd get used to wearing them… ya know, for Christmas and all."

"You're gonna wear a skirt on Christmas?!" Axel asked in disbelief."

"Shut up Axel." Larxene muttered, smoothing imaginary wrinkles in her lacy, black, knee-length skirt.

"You're blushing." Axel pointed out.

"Well, gee, thanks for the information." The woman spat back sarcastically, cheeks coloring just a little more. Flustered, she turned to the other members. "Maybe _you_ will enjoy my work. At least Marly does." Larxene added, referring to the pink haired number eleven – Marluxia. "In fact, he helped me put them up." She paced over to the door to the right of the entrance and paused. "And we're not even done yet. Have fun with the mistletoe, it's above every doorway. Ta!" the blonde winked at them and giggled hearing Axel's yell of displeasure, "That was SO Marluxia's idea!"

* * *

Mealtime with Organization XIII was always an amusing occasion. The three iron chandeliers that hung above the heavy oak table now had pearlized ribbons climbing up their chains and shiny red tree ornaments hung in a tiered formation off of the swooping curves of the metal, all to Xemnas' chagrin. He, of course, sat at the head of the table and had the only chair with armrests. The rest of the members sat across from each other, six on each side, in identical wooden chairs that were painted green with artistic scrapes and pitted holes in them that mirrored the table. Down Xemnas' right sat Xigbar, Vexen, Zexion, Axel, Luxord, and Larxene. Then to his left were Xaldin, Lexaeus, Saïx, Demyx, Marluxia, and Roxas. In this particular way, they sat in order of their rank, organized much in the same way as the podium athletes would stand upon in the Olympics while awaiting their medals. 

The true chefs within their Organization were Xaldin and Zexion. Xaldin had an innate ability to slice, dice, chop, and generally cut near anything into precise amounts at a disturbingly rapid rate, while Zexion had a few abilities. The 16-year-old had learned to pickle vegetables, clean fish, can goods, and make a few simple pastries, mainly tarts. Normally, Xaldin would go about preparing the meal with Zexion quietly doing a few simple tasks and most importantly, cleaning up after his elder and closing cabinet doors behind him to avoid any more serious injury to the head. But it hadn't always been that way. At one time when Organization XIII had just formed, the thirteen (or rather, twelve) Nobodies took turns with the cooking. This proved to be a very temporary decision. Xigbar just plain couldn't cook, nobody (no pun intended) trusted Vexen enough to even try his food, Lexaeus managed to butcher nearly everything he touched with his large hands, Saïx never cooked the meat long enough, Axel on the flip-side, burned everything, Luxord bought take-out, Marluxia insisted on only organic products, Larxene didn't have the patience, and Roxas was inexperienced. Demyx however, was a whole other breed when it came to cooking.

Demyx was just as inexperienced in the kitchen as Roxas was, only Demyx never asked for help when he needed it. Demyx also never followed directions, nor bothered to read them. When Demyx wanted to make a cake, he would pour in the mix and discard the box. Then he would add as many eggs, flour (even though he already had the mix), water, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract he thought it needed. Not only that, but Demyx is what one might call a "creative chef". One could never tell what exactly it was they were eating. One time he served them green pancakes. Green. And with them, he put watery eggs with Tabasco sauce, something that was _not _bacon, some strange crumbly type of muffin with orange cubes in it, and some thick, chunky, pink smoothy-esque drink. Needless to say, the other members found alternative options for their meals on those days.

There was still a slight problem with mealtimes, however – everyone wanted something different. So Xaldin and Zexion had to prepare several different dishes in order to please everyone. This time they had prepared a chopped cob salad for everyone (at Marluxia's request) with the bacon bits in a separate bowl so that the vegetarian (guess who) wouldn't spend half the day picking them out of his salad. With the salad they served a few various soups, clubs sandwiches, two apple pies (curtsey of Zexion), and lemonade. Oh, and a beer for Luxord.

"Why don't _I_ get a beer?" Axel whined.

"No." Zexion said forcefully.

"Because we all know what would happen if we did." Xemnas said at the same time.

"Geez. Fine." The Flurry of Dancing Flames huffed. "I see how it is."

"Somehow I doubt that." The Superior commented, rubbing his aching head. When the rest of the members had scooted in their chairs, the meal began as usual. Xigbar was switching between telling jokes and hunting stories to his drab neighbors, Xaldin, Vexen, and Lexaeus were only half listening, Axel and Zexion were in conversation with Demyx across the table and all three together finding new and adventurous ways to torture Saïx, Luxord left before the meal was half-over, and Larxene, Marluxia, and Roxas were exchanging news and ideas.

"So ya see, I was lining up my aim with the buck when a – hey! You guys ain't listenin', huh? Dude! Duuude! Geez Louise!" Xigbar moaned. Xaldin looked up at him from stabbing a carrot.

"Yes, let your anger grow." He nodded.

"You're a freak, ya know that?" Xigbar shook his head and paced to where Axel and Zexion sat.

"Great work, number three." Vexen congratulated Xaldin.

"I try." Xaldin said sagely. Meanwhile, Demyx, Axel, Xigbar, and Zexion were deep in conversation.

"But seriously, how on Earth did you get that thing man?" Axel cried. Saïx growled at him.

"Ya better watch out, Axel." Xigbar joked, leaning in. "I think he's rabid."

"Oh! It all makes sense now!" Demyx added.

"Not you." Zexion muttered.

"So, the pound came and found a rabid puppy, and then they took the puppy and placed him in the pound, and then the Superior came along and adopted the puppy! Squee! I get it now!"

"I'm not a puppy!" Saïx spat through his teeth.

"Oh yes you are, you wittle puppy!" Demyx pat the top of number seven's head while talking in a baby voice. "Squee! That's so cute!"

"Number nine, I'd advise you remove your hand this instant before I –" Saïx began angrily.

"Before you what?" Axel interrupted. "Bit him and turn him into a werewolf?"

"Okay, guys! Like, I just heard, the cutest little sound, ever!" Marluxia broke in.

"That's nice, Flower Fag. Now buzz off." Axel shrugged him off. Demyx turned to the pink haired man.

"My squee?" he asked, pointing to himself.

"Squee?" the other repeated. "Ya! That is so it! Do you mind if I say that word now?"

"Anyone can squee!" Demyx replied cheerfully.

"Squee?" Larxene asked, tuning in. "Who came up with that one?"

"I did!" Demyx proclaimed proudly. "And anyone can use squee!"

"I have a bad feeling about this." Larxene moaned, turning back to Roxas. "So anyways, when do you think we should ask?"

"Squee!"

"Um…" Roxas stood half-way up, and settled down again. "Not sure, really. From the looks of it, he's bored out of his ever-loving mind."

"Squee!"

"Well, what does that mean to us?" Larxene posed.

"SQUEE!"

"Like I said, not sure. It could mean a couple of things really. I mean, he could be so tired and bored he'll say 'yes', or he may be irritable and say 'no'."

"SQUEEE!!!"

"STOP SQUEE-ING!" Xemnas roared, standing up from the table suddenly. Marluxia and Demyx cowered in their seats.

"Oh yeah, he's pissed." Larxene whispered over to Roxas jokingly.

"Furthermore." Xemnas continued, calming down. "I realize that December is here, and December means… Christmas." He said distastefully. "Just as last year, we will not celebrate this stupid holiday. You may do whatever it is you wish on that day, but don't plan on involving me." He sat back down and everyone exchanged glances.

"Wow, what a scrooge." Demyx whispered.

"That would be a 'grinch', Demyx… or at least that's what that one book said." Zexion corrected. Larxene looked around hopefully, then, not seeing what she was looking for, she gathered her wits and stood up. The remainder of the Organization looked up at her expectantly.

"Why can't we have a Christmas?" she countered boldly. Xemnas looked up at her in surprise.

"What?" he sputtered.

"Why can't we have a Christmas?" Larxene re-stated.

"Why should we?" Xemnas asked.

"Why should we not?" the blonde crossed her arms.

"Becau–" Xemnas began, but Larxene cut him off.

"So what, we're Nobodies. We've kinda already squared with that, haven't we? I mean, all we want is to be Somebodies like everyone else. Somebodies celebrate Christmas, so why can't we? It would just bring us one step closer to being what we're not." The other members rustled and looked at each other, exchanging excited whispers.

"Because, Larxene." Xemnas stated coolly. "Not everyone has to celebrate the holidays set down by the _government_."

"But everyone celebrates Christmas!" Larxene protested.

"Not everyone." Axel disagreed, smirking. "Some people celebrate Hanukah, or Kwanza."

"Shut up, ya smartass!" Larxene shot him a look. "Please, Superior! Just because we have our own sort of government here doesn't mean we have to alienate ourselves from everyone else, especially when we want to _be_ everyone else. Especially not when it hurts us."

"I see no-one hurting here." Xemnas replied icily. "Now sit down, number twelve, and finish your meal." Larxene remained standing for a while, then resignedly took her seat. And Xemnas could feel the holes she was burning into him for the rest of the meal.

* * *

If it was physically possible to hug one's room, Xemnas felt he was on the verge to. What with all that had transpired that day, he needed a good rest, or a book. The morning had been stressful enough, what with the car ride back from running simple errands. If he never had to endure Demyx singing in the car ever again, he would consider himself the luckiest man alive. In an ideal world, of course. It wasn't that Demyx was a bad singer, quite the contrary, actually, but he always managed to find the perfect songs that would grind on Xemnas' nerves just so. Of course, that whole fiasco was worsened by the fact that Axel had to come along. Axel hated him, and he knew it, and he wasn't about to mourn over the fact either. At least Roxas and Zexion were civilized… for the most part. But they were still just young teens. It was too bad that Xigbar had made friends with them, though – there was a large chance that he'd corrode their fragile minds like he had with Axel. And looking at how Axel was now… 

Xemnas sighed heavily. Then there was the whole Christmas problem. He honestly hadn't been prepared for anyone to mention it this year; after all, no-one had the year prior. And it wasn't that he forbade the holiday so much because it was a government holiday, but for a more personal reason – Organization XIII. Frankly, Xemnas did not have the patience to deal with them all in any sort of festive mood, they were hard enough to handle as it already was. Hmn, but reading "Axel's Adventures with Eggnog" a few years from now might not be so bad. Yes, curling up with a book was always a relaxing thing to do. He walked out of his sitting room and to the right into his office that also doubled as his own personal library.

Xemnas reached for one of the leather-bound novels, unprepared for what would happen next. When his forefinger got a mere quarter of an inch away, a buzzing coursed through his it, along his hand, and down his arm. He recoiled and examined his fingertip. It looked alright. Frowning, he went to reach for it again, faster this time. "Ouch!" he swore, hugging his hand to his chest. With a snarl, he lunged for the book only to spring back yowling like a cat, feeling the electricity course through his body. "Larxeeeeennnneee!"

And as if on cue, the blonde rounded a corner of a bookshelf, trying her darndest to keep her features natural, and she was too… save for the fact to her upper lip was threatening to break out into a grin. "Yes, Superior?" she asked innocently.

"What the hell did you do to my bookshelf?!" Xemnas spat, still cradling his injured hand.

"Me?" Larxene gasped, feigning shock. "I don't see anything wrong with your bookshelf." Xemnas was about to tell her to go and attempt to pull out a book, but then recalled that she being the one to set the trap would also be clever enough to know how to avoid it. "Why don't you go get that one over there?" Larxene suggested, pointing to a book with a red spine that looked like velvet. Xemnas narrowed his eyes at her, her own holding a cattish gleam. Finally, he turned from her and moved over to the book in question. After a moment's hesitation, he quickly drew the hardcover from its perch and backed away, discreetly exhaling his drawn breath. He flipped it over in his hands and frowned at the cover. Gold leaf lettering in an elegant cursive font glimmered up at him, "25 Timeless Christmas Stories".

"Larxene." Xemnas warned.

"Oh come on!" the blonde whined, clasping her hands before her deploringly. "Please let us have a Christmas! Just one! Pleeeaaase? It would mean so much to us." Xemnas sighed regretfully at his small library.

"I can only touch the Christmas related ones, right?"

"Yup!" Larxene crowed triumphantly. "And I'm not letting you touch the others until you let us have a Christmas."

"So you admit that you did do this?" said the Superior angrily.

"Who else is smart enough?" the woman scoffed.

"You give women a bad name." the leader muttered. "Fine, I'll let you all have a Christmas this year."

"Really?!" Larxene brightened. "Promise me, and sign…" she scrambled around his office to find a suitable scrap of paper. "Sign this and promise me that you'll let us have a Christmas."

"Is this really necessary?" the silver tressed man asked resignedly.

"Do you really want your books back?" the blonde countered.

"Good point." Xemnas nodded, taking the pen and paper from her and giving her his word. He watched her – skip? – out of the room looking considerably more cheerful. And yet the poor man could only think one thing: _What on Earth have I just done?_

* * *

Thanks for reading everyone! Oh ya, before I forget, I don't own anything but the ideas for the plot. Ba-durr. Now I would really, really, _really _appreciate it if you hit the shiny blue button just below the text. Pwease review? LOL In any case, there will be a next chapter tomorrow, so don't worry (uh, if you liked it, that is).

SilverIceWolf


	2. Ziggy

A/N: AGH! Sorry this one came out a bit later folks! I was busy getting ready for some gay school spirit day, "Er" day. Apparently, you can dress as anything that ends with "er" as long as it's school appropriate - i.e. no gangsters, strippers, or hookers. LOL So I was a rocker! YAY! Well, as you may notice, the style of my writing changes slightly in each chapter along with the viewpoint. So it may seem like I'm contradicting myself from one chapter to the next, but that is merely because I'm trying to adapt the prespective to how the character would see things. It seems easy, but ultimately that's up to you guys! Thanks so much for the FIVE reviews I recieved on chapter one! You really DO care! Heheheh... hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the first. Have fun... OMG! Only 12 days left!

__

_**13 Days of Christmas**_

_By: SilverIceWolf_

_Day 2: Xiggy_

'_On the second day of Christmas,_

_My Kingdom gave to me,_

_Two purple guns,_

_And a Zemmy who hates squee!'_

Xigbar sunk into his bean bag chair burrowing his nose in the edge of his black hoodie. Wednesdays were officially _the_ worst day of the year. Unless you call it "Hump Day" like Demyx did. Then it was amusing. The entire castle was off today, but Xigbar figured it was due to the grey clouds looming overhead. Even the cheerful Demyx was quiet. To be honest, the whole day was just depressing. Xigbar sighed and closed his golden eye, deciding to take a nap. FWAP!

"Hey Roxas." Xigbar called to his roommate.

"I'm not Roxas." A voice snapped back. Xigbar's eye shot open and he looked up to see-

"Hey, Larxy. Whatch'oo doin' here?" Xigbar drawled.

"Not what you're thinking." Larxene replied distastefully.

"Ah, common now. I'm not like that." Xigbar shrugged.

"You're Axel's mentor." The blonde shot back.

"Ooo! Burn!" the sharpshooter grinned. He leaned forward and leaned against his knees. "So uh, what is –? Gir?" he paused, picking up his plushy between his thumb and forefinger.

"In case you didn't realize, that's what I chucked at your head." Larxene informed him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Xigbar rose defensively. "You don't just go around throwing Gir at people."

"And why not?" the Savage Nymph inquired in a bemused tone.

"It hurts his feelings." Xigbar joked, cradling the small green dog to his chest.

"I'm sure." The woman replied sarcastically. "Look, I didn't come here to argue over stuffed animals. We've gotta get ready!"

"For what?" the sniper asked cautiously, running a hand through his ponytail. Larxene was known for many things, but one of those things was scheming. And just as she failed spectacularly in the kitchen, her schemes were also half-baked. Except somehow, the people she got involved always ended up with the punishment, never her.

"For Christmas!" the shouted back exasperatedly.

"Ya, but… didn't the Superior –?" he queried, suddenly cut off by the paper Larxene had shoved half an inch from his face. "What's this?" He took the wrinkled paper from her and scanned it. By the time he was done, he had a fanged grin plastered on his face and was searching around for his wallet.

"How on Earth didja get him to sign this?" he urged, tripping over a heap of clothing.

"Let's just say I used… persuasive advantage." Larxene finished mysteriously. Xigbar paused his search and looked up at her worriedly.

"Does this mean we're going to the hospital?"

"No, you moron! I jacked his bookshelves so that he could only pull out Christmas related books."

"With what, explosives?!" he asked the apathetic princess.

"Hardly. I've always thought explosives were far too tacky." She scoffed, and then smiled sadistically. "No, I charged them with bolts of electricity so that whenever he touched anything else, he'd be filled with a small current."

"Ooo, cruelty should be a sin, babe." Xigbar shook his head resignedly. "So, what is it you want me to do?"

"For one, get Zexion out of the house!" Larxene insisted. "And for two… why don't you go to the home improvement store at get some lights."

"Sure, what type of lights? Camels, Marlboro, Pall Mall, Monte Carlo?"

"I said the home improvement store, not the gas station." The sadist growled. "Ugh. Honestly! Just go and get Christmas lights _for the house_. And whatever else you think would work for lawn or house ornaments. Wire trees, garlands, wreaths, icicles, whatever."

"Geez! No sense of humor!" Xigbar scolded, getting his keys from atop the small dresser. "So… does it matter what size, color, look…?" he persisted. Seeing as Larxene was the one sending him on this mission, he really didn't want to screw it up.

"Just! Just… urgh! Whatever, okay? Just get whatever you want, take Zexion, and get out of my hair!" she threatened, shaking her hands at him.

"What little bit there is of it." The freeshooter teased.

"NOW!" the blonde screamed, looking for something else to throw at him. Hopefully something sharp and pointy.

"Ya, ya, sure. I'm going." He called over his shoulder as he headed for the garage, a faint smile on his lips.

* * *

"Come on, Zexion! Haven't got all day!" Xigbar called good naturedly from the driver's seat, turning the key in the ignition. A moment later Zexion emerged from the house, fixing his tawny grey hoodie. He wove his way around some boxes, nearly tripping over a power cord, before he finally came to Xigbar's black Silverado 4x4. The Organization's garage was about the size of a small house, and held more than just cars. Like everything else, each vehicle's designated spot depended on the rank of it's driver. While the two vans closest to the door belonged to Xemnas – as well as the silver Jaguar next to them – they were used solely as transportation for whenever groups of them had to go out at once. After these three cars was Xigbar's truck, then Xaldin's Lincoln MKZ, then Lexaeus' Ford Edge, Saïx's Volvo C70, Axel's red Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Demyx's Chevy Aveo, Luxord's Mercury Milan, Marluxia's Lexus, Larxene's Mazda CX-70 and icy blue Vespa, and at the far back was Axel's black and chrome motorcycle, complete with chakram insignia's on either side near the back wheel. 

Zexion settled himself in his seat, pulling his messenger bag into his lap before soundly closing the door. Zexion loved Xigbar's truck. He was short for his age, and often tried to cover it up by wearing elevated platform boots, or shoes that generally had thick soles, and was thankful for the step attached to the side of the truck which enabled him to actually clamber inside. Xigbar looked down. "Nice shoes, kid." He grinned.

"They're Roxas'." Zexion shrugged, crossing one leg over the other so that the black and white checkered Converse rested against the door.

"I know." Xigbar said, pulling out of the driveway. "I room with him, remember?"

"Hmn." Zexion replied. The senior member looked over at him quietly. While he found Zexion to be a nice kid, his unusual silence had always unnerved him. It just wasn't natural for a boy his age to be so somber. Hell, _he_ was wilder then Zexion! Xigbar fumbled with the buttons on the dash and flicked on the radio. After flipping through a couple stations, he settled on an old rock one, occasionally singing along with a familiar tune. Traffic at this time of year was horrible, especially the day after that other holiday, Thanksgiving, was it? Today was worse than usual as the roads were slick with rain from the previous night.

"So." Xigbar initiated, turning slightly to face Zexion. "Got any girls lately?"

"Girls?" the violet tressed teen blinked.

"W-well, yeah. I mean…" the other man scratched his head nervously. "I mean, unless your, ya know –"

"I'm not gay." The teen snorted indignantly. "I'm just not looking."

"Oh. Okay then." Xigbar settled down. "So, why aren't you looking?"

"Why should I?" Zexion countered. "After all, I'm not exactly human. It wouldn't be that fair for her, now would it? And last I checked, there was only one female in our Organization, and frankly, I don't feel up to being castrated."

"Ya, well, being inhuman never stopped me 'n Axel, now did it?"

"It should." There were a few moments of silence.

"One day, kid. It won't matter so much anymore."

"It doesn't matter. Not to me. But I'm not gonna lie, either." Zexion stated adamantly.

"Ya, know." Xigbar began thoughtfully. "For having the personality of a doorknob, and acting like you don't hardly give a damn about anything, you are pretty deep when you want to be."

"I'm flattered." The teen glared half-heartedly, somewhat confused by the statement.

"But… there aren't any girls at your school that you have a crush on or anything?"

"Tch. No, they're all self absorbed and arrogant." Zexion scoffed.

"Hell, I went to school just for the girls." Xigbar laughed. "Can't tell you half the stuff that I learned, s'all cool though. Don't use any of that crap anyways."

"You would if you had a job."

"I do have a job, baby! And this is it! Coastin', don't have to give a damn 'bout nothin'!"

"I think you just contradicted yourself." Zexion smirked.

"All right! Shuttup, ya smartass!" Xigbar punched him on the shoulder playfully. "So how do you like your school anyways?" Zexion stared at him blankly. "That bad, huh? I've been noticing that your grades got better. Good job an' all, but I don't know what you plan to do with 'em."

"Vexen went to college and received a degree in science and biology. Larxene's getting one for technology and I think one for bioengineering too. And then Marluxia went to get a degree in fashion and design or something. Of course the Superior has –" the teen counted off on his fingers.

"Awright! Awright! I gotcha!" Xigbar waved him off. "So what is it that _you_ wanna do?"

"Social Psychology." Zexion smirked.

"Ain't that one of your electives this year?" the gunner queried, making a quick right turn. Another car honked at him for nearly clipping them, and he promptly flipped them off. The teen sighed and shook his head.

"Yes, it's my best class." He clarified. "There is a degree of sorts for it at a college level."

"But, uh… you wanna be a shrink?" the older man cocked an eyebrow.

"Tch. Hardly." The Cloaked Schemer scoffed. "I'm going so I can become a tactician and a negotiator."

"Like for war?!" Xigbar exclaimed, nearly rear-ending the sedan in front of him. He went on after being nodded to. "I didn't know you wanted to join. What branch?"

"Our own."

"Huh?"

"The Superior wants to launch an attack of his own against the others, irregardless if we're outnumbered or not. He reckons that we can devastate enough area to become a big enough of a threat. However, he's waiting until he feels we're ready. He's encouraging my getting a degree, you know." The teen informed him, brushing back his bangs unsuccessfully.

"I don't doubt it." Xigbar growled, his eye flashing dangerously. "It's not right getting a kid like you involved in war."

"I'm sixteen." Zexion reminded him. "This attack wouldn't be until a few years later, even Roxas would be in his twenties, and he is only a year younger."

"Still not right." The free shooter argued. "What is it that he feels we need to go to war over, anyways?"

"Hearts." The younger member slouched in his seat, burying the tip of his nose in his hoodie.

"Hearts?" Xigbar repeated, pulling into a parking spot. He unclipped his seatbelt and frowned at Zexion. "But I thought we were all over that. We know we're different, that's why we're living together, protecting ourselves an' all."

"If we receive the hearts of our Somebodies, we can be whole again." The teen mumbled. The two sat in silence, a curious smile cracking on the gunner's lips.

"I see now." He nodded to himself. "You're only in this so you can have girlfriend like everyone else, because you're afraid of hurting her by not having a heart." Zexion stared fixedly ahead, looking emptily at the Mercedes slightly below him, not uttering a word. Xigbar chuckled knowingly, hopping out of the car and motioning for number six to do the same. The purple tressed teen mutely obeyed, avoiding even the most minimal eye contact, staring at the ground and stuffing his hands in his hoodie pocket. Right as the pair neared the double sliding doors, Xigbar grabbed Zexion's shoulder and looked him firmly in the eyes. "In your haste to make your life better, don't forget yourself. Don't do something that you'll regret later, trust me." Zexion blinked after him a moment, then followed him into Lowes.

* * *

"Hi! Welcome to Lowes! How may I be of service?" a bright girl popped up before Xigbar and Zexion from behind the next aisle. She smiled cheerily at both of them, brushing a few short, stray auburn locks behind her triple pierced ear. Emerald orbs looked from one to the other expectantly. 

"Uh, I think we're good… um, Rachel?" Xigbar replied, craning his neck to read her nametag.

"Oh." The girl sighed. "Eh, my name's Keely, actually." She informed them. "I'm new here, my nametag hasn't come through yet, I'm not really sure why they want me to wear this one exactly. It was my dad's idea for me to work here, I mean, he owns the store and all." She shrugged. "I'm only sixteen, but I get to work here 'cause my dad's letting me. But… you didn't really need to know all that, huh?" she giggled nervously, blushing in embarrassment. "I'll, uh, just be going now. Tell me if you need anything, okay?" She gave them a smile wave then walked quickly back the way she had come.

"She was pretty cute, huh?" Xigbar leaned over and whispered into the younger member's ear teasingly.

"She talks too much." Zexion shrugged off, averting his gaze.

"Ya, whatever." The gunner laughed. "I'm gonna go get those lights that Larxy asked for, you can go run amuck." He shoed him off, already walking in the other direction.

"Whoopee." The teen cheered sarcastically. Because everyone knows just how _exciting_ home improvement stores are.

* * *

"Home improvement stores ROCK!" Xigbar cheered, allowing himself to take a detour down an aisle lined with leaf-blowers. A few guys turned to give him a weird look, but resumed their browsing when they spotted his eye patch. Because you just don't mess with guys with eye patches. He ran a finger along the barrel of one of the models, smiling as evil thoughts interrupted his mission. "I wonder if I could scare Demyx with this." He grinned, unhooking it from its perch and slinging it in a gun-like fashion. "Maybe if I sup it up enough, it can be used as a machine gun!" By now, the other shoppers were examining their lists keenly, trying to find something else to look for in the meantime. 

Thankfully for them, Xigbar replaced the piece of equipment and dusted of his hands. Then his singular eye grew. "I BET THEY HAVE CHAINSAWS HERE TOO!" he exclaimed, half running over to the next aisle. The few people remaining in the leaf-blower section were sent to therapy, convinced they had run across a mass-murderer.

* * *

Zexion stalked down the rest of the aisle that Xigbar had deserted, sulking quietly. He hated home improvement stores. They were dirty, packed with testosterone induced men that probably couldn't even paint a wall properly nonetheless operate a power tool, and worst of all, they smelt horrible. He had never been quite sure why, but one of his inhuman abilities included a highly advanced sense of scent. And 'home improvement store scent' was one of the worst, next to sauerkraut, dead animal, wet dog, and other various unpleasant things that even humans detested. 

The teen paused and browsed the products displayed there – fans and chandeliers. Maybe Larxene would appreciate the French inspired one dripping with realistic crystals. The Superior would probably prefer the one beside it that looked like thick twigs or even antlers. He continued to walk along, gazing up at the various designs, stopping before one with a rare grin. Oh ya, that one would definitely be great for Marluxia. He continued passed the white children's ceiling fan decorated with various pastel flowers.

He looked around, realizing that he had popped out into the check-out area, and headed to the semi-open area to his left. The multiple signs there told him that this was the paint section of the store, boasting of over five major brands and 800 shades of colors, but of course, his nose had already told him this. Paint was an iffy scent with Zexion. Some brands were alright, while others where just putrid. He had to be cautious as the fumes while being a plausible high for humans in small spaces worked double time on him. Not like it wasn't fun sometimes.

Larxene was always talking about painting the interior of the castle; she herself had already finished her and Marluxia's room, two bathrooms, and the formal dining room, with occasional help from the aforementioned member. More color would be welcomed, at least, Zexion thought so. He ran a forefinger along the rainbow organized paint chips, looking for anything that caught his interest. He pulled out two small booklets of color combinations in "shaded styles" and "muted styles", both in purple tones. He browsed the first quickly, finding only light colors. He returned the booklet and looked at the other. It wasn't all that better – the color schemes were too light, and the model homes that were being displayed showed off girly lace and feminine furnishings within the room. There was, however, a color in the center panel that looked deep enough entitled "Palace Purple". Thoughtfully now, he replaced the second booklet, also by Behr and examined the paint chips in the area closely.

"You know." A bright voice spoke up, startling Zexion. "If you find a color you like, you can get a bunch of paint chips and cut out that color and make a paint swatch with them. The chips are free." The violet tressed teen turned to look up into the young employee's emerald eyes.

"Uh… Keely, right?" he asked.

"Yup!" she smiled happily. "I didn't really think you'd remember my name. Hey, you go to Northridge High, too? You seem kind of familiar. I'm a Junior there." The red-head asked curiously.

"I doubt it." Zexion snorted. "Ya, I'm a Junior there too."

"That's cool!" the girl cheered. "So, uh… you into painting?"

"Not really, I'm just sick of white walls. Larxene's practically begging me to paint my room."

"Larxene?" Keely inquired. "Your girlfriend?" she bit her glossy lip.

"Heck no!" Zexion shook his head, not noticing the girl's previous expression. "More like a big sister, I guess. In any case, we live together. She's eighteen." He volunteered at random.

"Oh, I see." Keely nodded, not really understanding. "So, you're into purple?" she asked, indicating to the booklets that he had been viewing.

"I guess." He shrugged. "I only like the dark shades though."

"Ya, it would be too girly to paint your walls lavender or lilac or something." The girl laughed in understanding. She reached across him and pulled up two sheets with four paint chips each. "Here. Behr doesn't really do that many dark colors, but maybe you'll find something you'll like in these. This second one has more of a brown undertone, so be careful what you choose as accent colors. If you decide to buy some paint, we have primer over there." She pointed to the shelf behind her. "Oh, and don't forget to sample the chips first in various lights, just to be sure you get the color you want."

Zexion accepted the two cards from her, gazing at her in slight awe. "You seem to know quite a bit about all this." He commented.

"I guess so." She blushed. "Oh, I love interior design, it's kinda fun. Besides, I really wanted to impress my dad, and I really do love my job so I tried to learn as much as I could about the place. See, my dad and I live alone, now that ma's passed away, and this is the first time I've been able to do anything to help out our family. I really want to be helpful…" she trailed off. "I'm rambling again, aren't I? I'm sorry." Keely bit her lip nervously.

"That's cool." Zexion shrugged. "I don't mind. I'll keep what you said in mind." He added, holding the cards up momentarily. "I think I'd better check in with my friend, now." He looked away a moment. "I guess I'll see you around." He added hesitantly.

"Sounds good!" the red head chirped, clapping her lime green manicured hands together happily.

"Ya… so, bye." Zexion looked her in the eyes, blinking to clear his mind, and then turned to find Xigbar.

* * *

Xigbar finally found himself in the appropriate section of the store. Deciding to skip the designated lighting section entirely upon seeing only lightbulbs and interior lighting, he waltzed over to the aisles to the right of the entrance doors. The first was crammed with wrapping paper in gaudy prints and colors, crinkly tree skirts (who knew trees wore skirts?), odd colored stockings, and fake plants and arrangements, most of which was scattered over the concrete floor. 

He turned the corner and saw… DEER! He jumped away, pressing his back against the shelves sneakily. What on Earth where deer doing in the middle of a store? They seemed still enough. He snuck a peek at the docile animals, concocting a crafty scheme. Xigbar was an excelled hunter and he knew better than to scatter his prey when they offered themselves in groups. With his good eye, he lined up the nearest target, one of his laser guns materializing in his hand. Without warning, he swung around and nailed the first one with three rapid-fire shots. He stood over his prize victoriously, a smirk plastered on his face that slowly caved to a frown. The rest of the deer hadn't moved as he expected.

Bending over to retrieve the three lethal crystal 'bullets' he realized with a shock that these weren't deer at all… they were _plastic_! It being his first Christmas (that he could remember at least), he was unaccustomed to such abnormalities. Humans really did have strange ideas sometimes. Then again, so did Xigbar. Checking quickly to see if anyone was looking, he braced his legs and fired off several rounds at the surrounding plastic animals, grinning wickedly as each crystal struck its mark. There was a little gasp. He whirled around, aiming the gun at the source. A small blonde girl stared up at him in horror, tears gathering in her chocolate brown orbs. "You meanie! You deaded Rudolph! Moooommmmmyyy!" she whined, running away. Xigbar stood there agape a moment. Rudolph? What nonsense was she spewing? Shrugging, he went and retrieved his projectiles.

Deciding to escape before "Mommy" caught him and alerted the store manager, he slid into the next aisle over, where the lights were. "Whoa." He muttered, looking up and down the length of the shelves, all over flowing with small boxes of lights and clips. He reached for the nearest box. "150 stringed lights; Gingerbread House Style; Red" the next was similar, but in green. The box below was in mixed colors. Not knowing what else to do, Xigbar retraced his way back to the front of the store and returned with a shopping cart, loading it up with two boxes of the aforementioned lights.

Another style of outdoor light caught his attention. "Icicle Lighting; White" he read. Squinting at the diagram, he figured that the dangling lights might look nice on the castle. There was a similar design to this "icicle" one. This one was called "Snowflake", which didn't really look different at all, only this style came in blue also. Irregardless, the sharpshooter swooped a few boxes of each into the basket. After adding boxes of multicolored lights in "Gumdrop", "Classic", and "Pearlized" styles of different increments, he reviewed his inventory. He honestly didn't know how to hang the lights, and therefore, how many he would need. The castle _was_ pretty big, and what with Larxene's creative genius, he wondered if the 50 plus boxes he decided upon would be enough. Based on this guess, he loaded in five crates of light clips, wracking his brain trying to remember if the castle even _had _a gutter to attach them to.

"Got enough there?" Zexion asked sarcastically, causing Xigbar to start.

"Jesus, kid! I didn't know you were there!" he exclaimed, itching the back of his head sheepishly, embarrassed at being caught off-guard. "Give me a warning next time, 'kay?"

"Whatever." The violet tressed boy shrugged. "Do you think we should get more outdoors stuff? Just in case Larxene wants to send us back here again, I mean."

"Why? Don't you want to see that chick again?" the older man grinned wolfishly. His comment met silence. "But you do have a point. I think I recall her recommending the same thing. With as fast as she and Flower Fag goes through garland, it would probably be a good idea to get them some more." He said, referring to Marluxia by his favorite pet name.

"Then don't get the weird, shiny stuff." Zexion crossed his arms, nodding over to the silver tinsel garlands.

"Too bad she had to have expensive tastes." Xigbar complained.

"And this is going to cost how much?" Zexion raised an eyebrow, eyeing the already stuffed basket.

"My point exactly." The gunner huffed, steering the cart into the corner along some more shelving. The teen moved beside him, looking at the rest of the outdoor decorations.

"I'll go get another cart." He muttered.

* * *

"That'll be 2,387 munny please." The cashier smiled. "Planning a big party?" 

"You could say that." Xigbar cried, reluctantly handing over his credit card.

"I'm sure your house will look… festive." The teen smiled, trying to imagine all of the lights and decorations crowded onto a normal sized house.

"Hope so." Zexion quipped, itching his arm, paint samples safely tucked away in his hoodie pocket.

"Oh! Hey!" a feminine voice called. The two Organization members looked up to see Keely rushing over to them. "Hey." She said breathlessly. "I wanted to know if you guys wanted any help taking this stuff out to your car, there's a lot here."

"Sure." Zexion agreed, cutting any comment from his superior off. Between the tow of them, the two had picked out over 50 boxes of outdoor lights, four boxes of tree lights, five crates of light clips, twenty garlands, seven more wreaths, ten pre-lit white metal trees, two snowmen, twenty strings of icicles to decorate the pre-existing trees, and twelve of the plastic reindeer that Xigbar shot up. Plus a small lacquered rain-resistant sleigh. Keely wheeled over a cart for moving pieces of wood and with Zexion's assistance, loaded the sleigh with a large chunk of their purchases and placed it atop the cart. Even at that, it took them another two trips (even using the two baskets) to load up everything into the flatbed of Xigbar's truck.

"Good thing you have a truck, huh?" Keely panted, wiping her brow with the back of her wrist.

"You better believe it!" the amber eyed man said proudly, patting the hunk of metal affectionately.

"Good to see you again, um…" Keely waved.

"Zexion." The violet tressed youth filled in for her.

"Zexion." She repeated with a smile. "Got it. See you around, Zexy!" His eyes widened with surprise momentarily. She was so hyper.

"See ya, Keely." He waved, climbing in the truck and sending the guffawing man beside him a glare. "What?" he spat.

As he pulled out of the parking lot, Xigbar laughed, "I swear I thought I heard her call you sexy!"

* * *

Weeell? What didja think? Tell me pwease and hit the shiny blue button beneath the text! Heheh... thanks to the five reviewers for chapter 1! I love you guys! squee 


	3. Xaldy

A/N: Wow, you people really DO love me! This is just the third chapter and the story has been out for roughly only two days and already I've got ten reviews and over 200 hits! (Uh, this is record breaking for me, sad, I know). Thanks for all the support. I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as the others. I still can't believe that Christmas is only eleven days away! Enjoy!

__

_**13 Days of Christmas**_

_By: SilverIceWolf_

_Day 3: Xaldy_

'_On the third day of Christmas,_

_My Kingdom gave to me,_

_Three sideburns,_

_Two purple guns,_

_And a Zemmy who hates squee!'_

"Happy Windsday, Xaldy!" Demyx smiled broadly, leaning on the kitchen counter.

"It's Thursday, Demyx." Xaldin replied bluntly, sharpening a spear with a whet stone that went to a set of butcher knives.

"But it's always Windsday for you, isn't it?" the brunette giggled at his own joke.

"Haha, very funny. Now get out of my kitchen, number nine." The wind user urged impatiently.

"Okey dokey then!" Demyx shrugged, sneaking a sugar cookie on his way out. Xaldin, while being as fickle as the wind itself, was feeling especially short fused today. His roommate, Lexaeus, wasn't the lightest sleeper. After shaking him awake for the fifth time that night to stop his insufferable snoring at two in the morning, Xaldin had received a mere four hours of rest. And needless to say, Xaldin running on a full eight hours was temperamental enough.

Banishing his weapons when he heard a high pitched chime, he slipped on a pair of grey mitts and opened the oven door, tendrils of heat wafting out. With a great sigh, he extracted the cookie sheet cautiously and set the next sheet in, indicating the cooking time. Throwing the mitts down on the opposing counter, he seized a handful of cookie cutters and squeeze bags of icing. Larxene walked in on him as he violently hacked large shapes into the baked dough.

"Looking good, Xaldy." She smiled. "Need any help?"

"I've got it." He grunted. He needed to vent his Lexaeus hatred at something.

"Hmn, alright then. But tell me if you need me to take over." The blonde smirked.

"Why?" he glared up at her menacingly, used to her schemes.

"Because, I have a list for you to take care of!" She brandished before his eyes. By now, the word of Larxene's Christmas had swept through the castle and it's inhabitants were half afraid of what she would expect of them, especially if they screwed up, and half excited out of their minds. Well, with the exception of some. Xaldin wiped a hand off on his apron and read through the list.

"You want me to handle all of the food preparations?" he asked for clarification.

"Well, how else could do such a marvelous job?" Larxene cooed.

"Suck up." He growled back.

"Fine." She snapped, all charm gone in an instant. "I still expect it to be done."

"You forget your place sometimes, Larxene." The third member sighed in slight agitation. Even he knew better than to challenge Larxene. "Let's see… make a list of food, make pastries (cookies, mints, chocolates, gingerbread houses?), prepare beverages, stock up on herbs (like mint for seasoning), make sure to buy a ton of cocoa mix and marshmallows." He looked up and shrugged. "Numbers eight and nine can take care of that last one."

"I don't think so." Larxene disagreed, driving the frightening images from her mind. "Axel and Demyx would either burn or freeze the cocoa, and knowing our luck, they'd probably find a way to do both. If nothing else, they'd kill each other just trying."

"Point taken." Xaldin nodded.

"You should also get some candy canes and miscellaneous candies from the store to fill in the candy dishes that Marluxia and I placed around the house. Oh, and some extra for the gingerbread houses. Which means you'll probably need more icing too." She added, eyeing the bag he held laxly in his hand.

"How very thorough of you." He commented dryly. "Don't worry your pretty little head." He scoffed. "I'll get everything that _I_ need to prepare for _your_ holiday." This was Larxene's cue to back off, which she did respectfully.

"Have fun!" she called over her shoulder, disappearing out of sight before Xaldin decided that he was angry at her and summoned his six spears. The man massaged his temples wearily. Today was going to be a looong day. Finishing the remainder of the icing work on the finished sugar cookies, he checked the timer and partially cleaned up his station. It seemed she would need her help after all. Pulling his slider phone from his back pocket his punched in Larxene's cell and soon heard her perky voice on the other line.

"Hello?" she asked.

"You know who this is." Xaldin rolled his eyes.

"What's up Xaldy?" she asked, all fear of his wrath gone.

"Take over for me." He moaned resentfully. "And keep number nine from eating any more of them! He's jacked three off of me already."

"Comprende!" she chirped. "I'll be right over."

"Oh, and Lar-" he stopped as the line went dead.

"Yes?" she asked, standing behind him as the portal of darkness snapped closed. She smirked as Xaldin started, whirling around on her.

"Don't do that." He snarled.

"Sorry, Xaldy." She dismissed. "What was it you wanted to tell me?"

"I'm giving you permission to use your element against the other members ONLY if they try to mess around in here, understood?"

"Yup." She nodded, smirking sadistically. "Not about to forget that one."

"What the hell did I just do?" Xaldin wondered to himself as he left his precious kitchen, the blonde already setting to work behind him.

* * *

Xaldin cruised down the street in his new "Amethyst Clearcoat Metallic" Lincoln MKZ thoughtfully. He hoped against hope that Larxene would have enough sense not to burn his kitchen down, or rather, let Axel burn his kitchen down. "Okay." He said to himself. "There's only eleven days left until Christmas. Right now I can get the candy canes and prepare the gingerbread houses. It sounds like she expects me to make them continuously." He griped, changing his hold on the leather steering wheel. "And I also need to get all of those marshmallows and chocolate mix, especially the marshmallows!" A small scene played out in his head at that moment. Axel and Demyx were one side, hiding behind an upturned couch. Xigbar was loading the small missiles into his twin guns, Zexion was torn between eating them and chucking them at Axel's spiky head, and Roxas was having a rapid-fire contest with Larxene. "Take that, Roxy!" daydream-Larxene screamed. "I SO totally pwned you, ya noob!"

Xaldin paled considerably. He knew that that particular group would find a way off letting the blame fall to him. And personally, he wasn't the type that felt cleaning up other people's marshmallow wars was a fun thing to do.

* * *

"Lesse here." Larxene muttered, scanning the recipe while holding three over-sized icing bottles in one hand. Red and green crept down her wrist even still.

"Can I have that?" Axel smirked from the doorway, indicating to the icing on her arm. She looked up alarmed and licked it off in front of him. "Fine." He snorted, reclining against the doorframe. "Since when did you cook?" he asked, unable to hold back the question.

"Since I sent Xaldin to the grocery store." She answered, not looking up from the recipe.

"Which ones did Sideburns make?" the red head questioned.

"Try and guess." The Savage Nymph challenged.

"How about no?" Axel disagreed, walking over to her. "Do you even know how to bake cookies?"

"I'm following a recipe, aren't I? Can't be that difficult." She brushed him off.

"You've never made cookies, have you?" he grinned, poking her in the side. She swatted his hand away and sniffed.

"Women have an inbred ability to bake."

"Tch. My ass they do! Here." He lightly nudged her to the side and took over the dough that she was throwing together. "Okay, it says that the recipe requires 3 and ¾ cups of flour, ne?" he gestured to the notepad.

"Ya, so what?" the apathetic princess scoffed.

"Show me how you measure out the flour." Axel smirked. The woman shot him a strange look then scooped out a cup of flour from the bag. Shaking it so that it slightly evened out, she moved to pour it into the bowl. The chakram wielder grabbed her wrist and dumped out the flour.

"I don't think so." He shook his head. He looked around and finally found a butter knife, setting it beside the bag. "You want to try and get as much flour into the cup to equal out the entire dosage. Since flour is really fine, you want to pack in as much as possible." Larxene watched him wordlessly. He reached into the bag and shook the cup as she did, then took the knife and packed in the flour with the dull tip. Without tilting the cup, he reached in and brought out some more flour, this time it was overflowing the measuring utensil. Again he used the butter knife, turning it so the back of the blade fell across the edges of the cup and made a chopping motion with it. Finally, he turned the knife sideways and scraped off all of the excess flour in one stroke leaving a perfectly smooth and compact appearance. Larxene gaped at him as he neatly emptied the contents into the bowl and went to repeat the process.

"Wh-what the…? Since when did _you _cook?!" she sputtered. Axel chuckled and sent her a cocky grin.

"Since old man Xiggy told me to watch the Food Network. And man, was he right! Women really _do_ love men who can cook."

"You should really learn when to shut up." The blonde huffed exasperatedly. "Amazing and skilled, and all gone in an instant."

"So you really think I'm skilled?" Axel perked up. Larxene blushed.

"Wh-what?! Sure, if that makes you happy. I'm just saying that you blow all that charm by admitting that you did it to get women."

"So you think I'm charming?" he grinned, wiping the flour off on a dishrag.

"AXEL!" the Savage Nymph exclaimed, bristling with electricity. Even a fool would understand this was nature's fair way off telling them to back off.

"Okay, well I'll let you get back to your cooking." Axel shrugged, placing the now-folded dishrag on the tile counter. "And, uh…" he turned slightly in the doorway, looking over his shoulder at her. "I'll keep that whole 'charm' thing in mind. I wouldn't want to give anyone the wrong impression."

The blonde stared after him a moment longer, ignoring the flush in her cheeks. After a moment she shook her head, muttering to herself, "Was he just trying to hit on me?"

* * *

"Since when were there so many types of candy cane?" Xaldin pondered, folding his arms behind his back as he observed the shelves. The red cart beside him was empty – he had decided to go to Target when he saw the parking lot situation at the nearest Safeway. Besides, Target had a ton of food items now that they were in competition with the Super Wal-Mart down the street.

"Mommy, can we get these ones?" a high pitched voice screeched. A little girl rocketed over to the packages of striped candies, plucking one from the shelves. Her mother strode over and replaced the item, patting her child of the head.

"No, dear not this time. Remember what your brother did last year?"

"Oh ya…" the little girl trailed off. "I never knew that candy canes were so explosive!" Xaldin smirked. He could use that to his advantage. Eager not to get human germs on himself (anymore than he had to at least), he selected a pack at the back, high above the rest. This particular one was flavored as "Original".

"That's stupid." Xaldin complained under his breath. "What is 'original' supposed to taste like, anyways?" Nonetheless, he carted a few more boxes as they seemed to be the traditional style and as head chef of their Organization, he could work the unusual shaped candies into several dishes. But perhaps the other flavors would work better? There were two different sizes of boxes: a 24 pack, and a 12 pack. So far, Xaldin had only grabbed the 24 packs – Demyx would eat that much alone. He moved towards the less festive colored candy canes.

"Blue Raspberry?" he muttered, holding a two-toned box to the light, examining the label. "Hmn, Demyx would eat it." And based on this system, he managed to select over 40 boxes. Half were of 24, the other of 12, each in different flavors. When this branch of his journey was over, he surveyed his choices skeptically, a slight twinge of disgust growing in the pit of his stomach. Blue Raspberry, Original, Piña Colada, Banana, "Tutti- Fruitti", Cotton Candy, Cream Soda, Coconut, Pineapple, Sour Apple, Cherry, Lemon Lime, Mandarin Orange, Watermelon, and toasted Marshmallow. He had seriously contemplated purchasing the Jalapeno ones just to force Axel into eating them, or even the Margarita flavor for Vexen to test. While he did find the man highly annoying, he had to admit that Vexen _did_ come up with some pretty harebrained (and by that means, amusing) ideas. His comrades sure could stomach some strange foods. Figuring that 720 candy canes would be plenty, he moved on to the next task – marshmallows.

Upon closer inspection of the bags, Xaldin realized that he hadn't even known how to spell 'marshmallow' correctly, he had always thought it was 'marshmellow'. Well, whether it was mallow or mellow, he didn't really care. What he _did_ care about was that the consequential food war that would inevitably come was as mess-free as possible, therefore no whipped marshy goodness in a jar. Demyx would be upset. Loading the remaining space within the basket, he remembered to grab the cocoa mix so Larxene would have no reason to skin him alive. As well as some Godiva chocolates, those things were tasty!

Hoping that he had enough ingredients back at the castle to make all of the gingerbread houses that Larxene expected of him, he made his way to the checkout aisle. Holidays were officially the worst time of the year. After a near half hour wait, he finally pushed his junk to the conveyor belt. His cashier was a gangly young man with a strawberry blonde goatee and upper lip hair. It wasn't a mustache, but it was a little square under his nose. Xaldin simply called it "upper lip hair". The man peered through his black rimmed glasses at the overflowing cart disapprovingly.

"You know sir, if you eat all of that; you're going to get fat." He sniffed, pushing his glasses back up with a forefinger.

"I'm not eating this crap." Xaldin snarled, loading box after box on the conveyer belt. "I'm just cooking it."

"Oh, I see!" the cashier shrieked. "So you think it's all right to make other people fat!"

"That's right, let your anger grow." The third member nodded sagely, converting to his favorite catchphrase.

"That's right, I'll let my anger grow!" the man was now making a scene. "Do you know how much fat is in a single marshmallow?! Well, do you?!"

"By the looks of you, the marshmallow has more fat content than your entire body." Xaldin shrugged, grinning dangerously. Starting things was one thing, instigating was fun.

"Is that supposed to be an insult, _Sir_?" the cashier raged, shaking a finger.

"Anorexic conformist." Xaldin sighed. "Just ring up my crap." He ordered.

"Crap, indeed! This stuff will give you a heart attack!"

"I'm touched."

"This is degrading! I refuse to-"

Stabbity! Xaldin quickly banished the long spear before too many people saw. The man shut up and looked at the bleeding gash in his hand, mouth hanging wide open.

"You monster!" he finally shrieked, flying from behind the cash register at the Whirlwind Lancer, attempting to grab him by the sideburns. At that moment, the manager came rushing out, red in the face from running. She took the young cashier by the wrist and began to drag him away, shouting over her shoulder, "I'm sorry to inconvenience you Sir! I'll be back soon." She promised. The young employee was still yelling obscenities.

"Look!" he protested. "He _stabbed_ me! Arrest him! This is physical assault!"

Xaldin stared after them blankly, and then looked down at the mountain of food. That was going to take a looong time to ring up. Oh well! The rest of the store watched wordlessly as he wheeled the cart out into the parking lot, loaded up his car, and drove off. And the best part was, he managed to get that punk's wallet too!

* * *

"LARXENE!"

The blonde stood triumphantly with her arms crossed just beneath her breasts, smiling at the braided dark-haired man. "Wazzup, Xaldy?" she inquired. Suddenly, her expression darkened. "You did get the cocoa mix, didn't you?" she asked gravely.

"Yes, I got your frikken' cocoa mix. Now what the hell happened in here?!" Xaldin asked distractedly, binding his loose braids together with a tie for sanitary purposes. He nudged the charred blob at the woman's right with a booted toe. It gave an involuntary squeak, and then laid still.

"Start explaining." The man barked to his co-worker.

"Well, this is what happened."

"Oh my God, you let Axel in the kitchen." Xigbar interrupted.

"No!" the blonde snorted. "Actually, yes, but that's not it."

"Demyx flooded the bathrooms again and broke the hot water heater, then! I knew it!" the man declared.

"Uh… no." Larxene reached up and lowered his pointer finger which nearly poked her eye out.

"Then it's true?" he asked.

"What's true?!" she burst out irately.

"You ARE pregnant!"

"WHAT? No! Do you want your frikken answer or not?!" Larxene howled indignantly. "Besides, who told you I was pregnant?"

"That doesn't really matter." Xaldin shook his head quickly.

"Right…" the blonde watched him suspiciously. "Anyways… Vexen came in here and freaked me out. He was doing that weird thing he does where he just kind of sneaks around and gives you the strangest feeling that he's always be trying to kill you in some diabolical way? Ya, that one. Well, I figured he was trying to poison us all with anthrax or something, so…" she grinned at him sheepishly. "You _did_ say I could crispy fry people if they were ticking me off in preservation of your beloved kitchen."

"Damn loopholes." The lancer moaned, fastening on an apron. "Good job Larxene, now get out of my domain and bring that thing with you." He indicated to Vexen by once again kicking him in the side.

"Eww, do I have to touch it?" the blonde shrunk away in disgust.

"You made the mess." Xaldin nodded with slight cheer. "Use gloves if ya want." He held up a box of purple disposable gloves to her. It was then he eyed the extra four racks of sugar cookies. "Did you make these?" he asked, looking at her critically.

"Yup!" she beamed proudly.

"When you come back, bring Demyx." The older man sighed. Demyx would eat anything. The Melodious Nocturne in fact was the only one he knew to find green pancakes appetizing – or was it waffles? – but strangely only ever got sick from Larxene's confections. Then again, most everyone did. But Demyx was the only one brave enough – or was it stupid enough? – to try them.

"Fine." The sadist glared, understanding immediately what he had meant. Now for those gingerbread houses…

* * *

While skilled in many things such as lancing and manipulating the course and currents of the wind, Xaldin had always felt that his true passion and talent was cooking. When in his element (and not to say the wind exactly), the rest of the world just seemed to fade away into nothingness until there was nothing left but himself and his task. He never became lonely at such times; in fact he preferred the loneliness, of which he would have none of this time. Larxene sat upon a barstool, and notepad spread out before her studiously on the island counter.

Reluctantly, he began his lesson. "Alright, first things first. We need to get out everything that will be used. This includes utensils, rags, sponges, and ingredients. Obviously, we're making gingerbread. When making anything you always follow a recipe. ALWAYS." He exaggerated.

"Ya, ya, I get that." The woman snapped, shutting out previous errors. _What do you mean you can't add extra? That's a problem?_

"Alright then." Xaldin settled down. "We need to measure out three and a half cups of flour. When we measure a cup –"

"I know." She interrupted again. Standing up she took the cup from his hands and measured out the proper amount in the way Axel had shown her.

"Where did you learn that?" blue eyes blinked down at her in shock.

"I'm not completely hopeless." The woman scoffed, resuming her seat.

"Very well then…" he continued to shoot strange glances in her direction. "Read to me what else is on the list. I need to add them all now." He instructed.

"Let's see… it says: 1 ¾ cups sugar, 2/3 cups shortening, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon,1 tablespoon ground ginger, 2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder, 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 eight-ounce container sour cream, and 2 eggs." She announced, setting the index card down neatly on the counter.

"There's really not much left to do." Xaldin announced once the egg yolks were added to the bowl. "After this, you just need to wash your hands, beat the dough, knead in the remaining 2 ½ cups of flour and then it needs to be refrigerated for two hours. Oh yes, and wash your hands after that to avoid getting salimanilla."

"That sounds lovely." Axel drawled from a nearby stool.

"Wah! When did you get here?" Xigbar exclaimed.

"Seconds ago." Number eight ran a hand through his spiky tresses. "Trying to teach her how to cook?" he asked casually.

"I suppose." The superior member admitted begrudgingly.

"That's cool." Axel brushed him off. "Well, just dropping in. Nothing else better to do." He added tensely.

"Wait, Aku!" the blonde called, rising from her seat. Axel looked at her dumbstruck. Larxene almost never called him by his pet name anymore; it had been years ago in fact.

"Y-yeah?" he scratched the back of his head nervously. Larxene wasn't the most affectionate person in the world. The sudden reappearance of his nickname wasn't necessarily a good sign.

"Here, catch!" she giggled, hurling a small object at his chest. He caught it, surprised at the squishy feeling between his fingers. "Marshmallows." She prodded. "I know how much you love 'em."

"H-hey… thanks." The Flurry of Dancing Flames grinned, completely caught off-guard.

"There's a favor I wanna ask you." Larxene went on. _Oh so this was it. Bribery. How charming! Not like she has any. _He groaned internally. Well, he_ was_ a sucker for marshmallows, so he supposed he'd have to do whatever it is she wanted of him.

"Yes?" he asked guardedly.

"Um." Her cheeks tinted to a rosier shade. "Um, I was wondering if you'd like to help Marly and I around the castle setting up? Xaldy here bought far too many candy canes for any practical use, so I thought maybe we'd put a few in the candy dishes and hang the rest as decoration?"

It wasn't a command or a statement. She was _asking_ him for help. Once again taken aback, Axel's usual witty comebacks clung to the back of his throat. "Uh… ya. Sure." He shrugged, turning to leave. "Thanks for the 'mallows." He added, holding up the bag. Maybe this Christmas thing wouldn't be so bad after all…

* * *

YAY! Heheheh... AkuLarxy fluffness. Cute? No? You tell me. Sorry if this chapter was a bit dry, Xaldy isn't in my group of favorites (Larxene, Axel, Roxas, Demyx, Zexion, Xigbar, Marly, can I count Keely too? LOL) More reviews please, I really enjoy getting them!

SilverIceWolf


	4. Vexie

A/N: Le gasp! 17 reviews and 450 hits?! You people are the BEST! Well, I thought this chapter was the shortest, but the word count says otherwise. I guess I just felt like dragging out Vexen's chapter because it was torturing me, so I was thinking up more ways to inflict pain upon him. LOL Only joking. His chapter was hard to write though, so I hope ya'll like it. And yes, the beginning is sort of mood setting and backstory... kinda. And that chemical equation? We were covering it in class, and I could just see Vexie spending his time balancing chemical equations... for fun. XD!!! Yup, and also don't trust that chem equation either, because I didn't get some of those questions right on the test, so chances are some science smarty is gonna go, "What the hell?! Is Vexen _really_ that stupid?!" No he's not, I am. Enjoy!

P.S. was stupid this morning and I couldn't post it right away. Please excuse the delay!

_**13 Days of Christmas**_

_By: SilverIceWolf_

_Day 4: Vexie_

'_On the fourth day of Christmas,_

_My Kingdom gave to me,_

_Four scientists,_

_Three sideburns,_

_Two purple guns,_

_And a Zemmy who hates squee!'_

If you were to visit the castle that housed the thirteen members of Organization XIII, not only would you be utterly lost in five minutes flat, but even with a map you could take a whole day exploring every room and still not see everything. And one of the things you were sure as guaranteed not to see was the passage whose entrance sat precisely within a connecting hallway from the first level East wing to the Observatory out back. Upon whose walls hung an elaborate painting depicting an old English fox hunt – red clad men straddling proud chestnuts', foxhounds circling their feet. And if one where to push said painting aside they'd find a keypad, in which given the correct code, the panel of hallway would slide back seamlessly and lead to a series of hidden rooms, leveling deeper and deeper underground the farther one goes.

These rooms, upon close inspection, would be clearly seen as underground laboratories. A whole room, the farthest back, housed the creatures of midnight, yellow eyes glinting, antennae twitching as they moved about disjointedly. They groped at the cages that restrained them, pulling powerlessly at their grasp. Beside them was a slightly larger room constraining the un-beings – the Nobodies. They sat placidly in their loose holdings, lacking any fear or worry at all, perfect specimens of their beings. A large monitor hummed in the corner of the room, green digital increments and measurements scrolling constantly against a field of ebony.

The wires fed through the walls, networking to the other technology, updating it. A sort of operating room lay across from this, and to the left of it was a study that housed several instruments. In this particular room there ran to tables vertical to the door. There were only six chairs, although there was more than enough room for more. Along the back and side walls ran built-in cabinets, with table space, a handful of sinks, and floor to ceiling cabinets. A few flat screen high resolution computers sat blankly around this room, and a sliding whiteboard faced the two tables. Upon these tables were clipboards, pencil stubs, crinkled pieces of paper, slides, spare lenses, and microscopes scattered about fitfully. And to top it all off, the entire underground was poorly insulated, and water dripped from the corners, giving the whole place a very stuffy and damp aroma. The frigid air was merciless to all within, and the rooms were poorly lit with only peeling and twisted candles.

Vexen sat peering with unseeing eyes into the microscope before him. Clearing his mind again, he tried to focus on his work. The slide showed the normal results – hexagonal dark, almost violet shapes, occasionally interrupted by small and sparse brownish speckling. Recording the results in his tidy notebook, he sighed and scraped at his skin with a toothpick. Placing it carefully on a new slide, he added a drop of solvent and replaced it under the lens. Again, there was no change – Slightly browned elongated hexagons with small fissures, with the same speckling as the first slide. Irate to find no change, he scribbled in his notebook and paced around his study. He ran his forefinger along the notations on the whiteboard. Noticing an error, he balanced the chemical equation. 3KCI(HAg)4 did not yield to 3KI(Ag)4 CH, but more that of 3KI(Ag)4 3C4H. The combination of elements was a strange one - Potassium, Carbon, Iron, Hydrogen, and Silver – somehow it managed not to be explosive or corrosive. In any case, this small mistake may have skewed the hoped for results dramatically. He'd have to try again tomorrow; this morning had been stressful enough. He'd need to get another test subject besides to compare with his own, but Zexion was sleeping in this morning. Damn Xigbar just _had_ to go and wear him out, taking him back to that home improvement store _again_.

Moving over to his personal computer, he jotted down his results and notations in the Excel chart, and then logged off. Long ago he had given up on e-mail – nobody (no pun intended) ever replied to his messages anyway, and he was one of the only members who actually went down to the study anymore to bother with using it. The Superior had better things to do, and preferred to study his numerous volumes in his own room or out on the veranda. Xigbar had even less patience than his other had, and after numerous experiences, actually lost an eye when trying to tease a captive Heartless. After such occurrence, it was decided for him to be removed from their base. Xaldin was too over-run with food preparation to bother anymore, although he did swing by from time to time. Lexaeus was probably out jogging or hunting or some other testosterone-filled activity. Besides, he was a bit of a bull in the china shop when it came to avoiding beakers and chemicals. He had been best as a timer and recorder when his name had been Elaeus.

And so this left himself and Zexion. The young man had some hidden motive, but went along with their plans in any case, which was all that Vexen truly cared about. Zexion was a logical thinker, and despite his age, had been quite prized even as an assistant to the five other men as apprentices to Ansem the Wise. He was capable of solving a rubix cube in less than 30 seconds and could figure out even the hardest Sudoku puzzles in eight minutes or less. His teachers at school had sent "home" multiple reports stating that the teen was a "GATE" student, smarter even. GATE stood for "Gifted And Talented Education" and was a higher level of schooling for students that have different brain patterns, enabling them to process information in different ways that make regular school work either boring or confusing. Xemnas had decided to go through with this plan, refusing to "waste his money" on higher private schools for the teen. Even still, Zexion was bored out of his mind, and as usual with the lifestyles of genius', his was a very lonely and secluded life. Kids generally thought him to be weird, and shunned him out, not that he minded much – he was already used to being alone and had come to enjoy it.

Vexen figured that this was why the purple tressed boy didn't mind that he was just a pawn in their plan. And by "their", he meant of course, those within the organization that inspired to take their war out: the Superior, of course, Xaldin, Lexaeus, Saïx, himself, and Zexion. Luxord was simply out in left field, completely neutral to the situation, and Roxas was mysterious to everyone, although his deep friendship with Axel marked him as an enemy to Vexen. Resigning from the laboratory, he remembered to change the password (15, for the day, 26, for the year sans the zeros, and 4, for his number), before stalking out into the hallway, checking cautiously to find if anyone had seen him. No one had, but by the time he turned the corner, he had encountered the one and only Larxene. Now Vexen had heard plenty of the woman's ridiculous Christmas plan, but he had no inclination whatsoever to aid in the foolhardy holiday. Not like that meant anything to Larxene.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, skipping backwards to avoid slamming into the superior member. First because she didn't need him mad at her, and second because he always smelt of chemicals and it was pretty uncertain what it was he was doing whenever he disappeared for hours at a time. Not like she cared, really, it was just strange. Plus, his hair always made her think of an octopus' tentacles the way it hung it long clumps.

"Hey, Vexie." She smirked. One day she had felt so bored that she actually sat down and made up a pet name for each of the members, all ending in a "y" or "ie" that resulted in a childish sounding "e" sound. Not because she liked them all, far from it. It was just amusing to humiliate them.

"What?" he scoffed down at her, cocking an eyebrow impatiently.

"My, aren't you just charming today." Larxene huffed, bristling with electricity. Vexen was one of her least favorite co-workers, and on more then one occasion, they had gotten into fights.

"What is it Number _Twelve_?"Vexen urged, emphasizing her lesser status.

"Well, Number _Four_," she shot back. "I have a mission for you."

"I don't take orders from my subordinates." He pushed passed her.

"Well, I'm sorry that you think that orders from the Superior are so inferior to your high and mighty self." Larxene grinned evilly, knowing he wouldn't see it. Vexen stopped suddenly and stood rigidly.

"If the orders come from the Superior, of course I'll listen to them." He said tensely. "But I have no time and little patience for your nonsense. So make it quick."

"Sure thing." Larxene cackled internally. "Alright Vexie, your orders are to find the meaning of Christmas and to concoct some sort of beverage for Christmas Day."

"Shouldn't the later be reserved for Xaldin?" Octopus-man asked suspiciously.

"What?! You wanna work the poor man to death?!" the woman exclaimed in mock rage, quelling the giggle rising in her throat. "Besides, I'd just hate to have to tell the Superior that you refuse to take part i-"

"Alright, alright!" Vexen snapped. "Just go away, Number Twelve. You may tell the Superior that I humbly agree to his request."

"Not a problem." She spoke the words like individual sentences, reveling in seeing involuntary shivers run down the man's back. Larxene waited until he was out of sight, then rubbed her hands together triumphantly. _That should keep him busy and out of the way for a while._

* * *

Zexion strolled about the hallways groggily, still in his sleepwear – a dark navy over-sized hoodie, a gray tank top, and khaki pants. He had simply declined the idea of wearing boxers or fleece pants, insisting that in case of emergency, he'd always have proficient clothing. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he decided to pay Vexen a visit, the man had after all, been expecting him the day before. Figuring that he would be in the laboratory, he headed downstairs and headed East, which to him was to the right. On the way there, he passed Marluxia who had a few potted poinsettias in his arms, coming from his own private green house that was outside and to the North of the Observatory. But when Zexion reached the secret entrance to the underground network, he found none other than Larxene. 

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously, arms crossed suspiciously. The blonde started, looking at him wild-eyed.

"What the?! Zexion, you are so frikken' quiet, I didn't know you were there." She giggled nervously, wringing her gloved hands.

"You're not fooling me." Zexion laid out plainly.

"Fine." She sighed, disturbed by his straightforwardness. "I was trying to get into Vexen's secret area."

"How did you know about that?" the purple tressed teen frowned.

"Huh? You mean, you know too?! Cool, you can help me!" the blonde grinned.

"That depends." The teen countered, sensing a trade coming on.

"On what?" Larxene questioned.

"Why do you want to go in?"

"I wanna see where he spends his whole day. I mean, he just vanishes for hours, and when we finally see him again, he smells even worse than before."

"Don't I know it." Zexion drawled. His abnormal keen sense of smell could be both a helpful talent and a nuisance, seeing as it was a permanent ability, not something that can be turned on and off.

"So are ya gonna let me in or not, shorty?" Larxene teased.

"I might have." He shrugged, turning to leave.

"Hey! Ya know I don't mean it in a bad way!" the blonde called desperately.

"Why do you want to get in there really?" he asked knowingly.

"Eh?! Urgh… I wanna mess around in there. Vexie isn't the type to get all festive, so I thought I might help a little…" she pouted.

"In that case." Zexion whirled around with a rare grin, pushing her lightly to the side to access the painting. He slid it aside and Larxene gasped when she saw the keypad.

"Do you know the code?" she whispered to him excitedly. Zexion nodded. Even though he was technically on Vexen's side, it didn't mean he liked the man any. And Xigbar's words hadn't helped the matter either. Just yesterday, the free shooter had dragged him along just to lecture him about not falling bait to others, doing the right thing, etc., etc. Oh, and to see Keely again. Xigbar seemed dead-set on the idea that they'd make a "cute couple", whatever that was supposed to mean.

"It's …." Zexion paused, fingers hovering over the keypad. "What's the date today?"

"The fifteenth, why?" Larxene shrugged, not seeing the connection. Zexion nodded and punched in the combination, 1-5-2-6-4. Like magic, the panel slid back and lay flush against the back of the wall. The blonde peered into the darkness disgustedly.

"Let's get a'cracken'!" she grinned, already getting ideas in mind.

* * *

Vexen sat at the kitchen table moodily, nibbling at his calamari. "What is the meaning of Christmas?" he mused. "And… I have to create a beverage? Does that mean as in, edible?" he sighed, and put his head in his arms. "How on Earth am I supposed to do this?!" he moaned. Getting up from the table, he ate a few more forkfuls of his breakfast and deposited his dish in the washing machine. "perhaps." He contemplated. "I should ask the others what they believe Christmas means. As for that drink…" he eyed the kitchen thoughtfully. Then he spotted it – the cookbook. Triumphantly, he plucked it from it's home and examined the cover. It was purple with brown binding. After a few seconds of examining the multicolored tabs and dog-eared pages, Vexen realized something. The center area was white where in red Sharpie was scrawled, "Xaldin's Book of Recipes". That was the very same moment he felt cold, serrated metal press against his throat. 

"Well look what I found in my kitchen." Xaldin growled menacingly. Vexen gulped. "A little octopus from under the sea. What a great stew I'll make him into."

"H-hello, Number Three." Vexen winced, slipping away. "I'll… just… be going now." He nodded decidedly. Alright, maybe this would be harder than he thought.

Regaining his composure in the dining room, Vexen looked about until he found a piece of paper and a pen. Figuring walking around would be as good of an idea to find the others as any; he exited the eating area and entered one of many living rooms. Already he had found his first victim.

"Roxas." He cleared his throat. The spiky haired teen looked up at him from his PSP expectantly. Currently he was losing in Tony Hawk Underground 4 and was to say the least, not the peachiest. "Roxas, I'm gathering information to compile on behalf of the Superior's re-"

"That's nice, what do you want?" Roxas shook his head, already returning to his video game.

"I am your superior, Number Thirteen." Vexen clarified, as if the boy didn't already know. "I demand that you show me a bit more respect than that." Roxas paused the game and cocked an eyebrow.

"What already?" he grumped.

"What do you believe the meaning of Christmas is?" Number Four asked, pen at the ready.

"You're kidding me, right?" the teen laughed.

"No, I'm not. Now answer the question Number Thirteen." Vexen answered, becoming flustered.

"Why not ask what the meaning of life is? Jeez." Roxas shrugged sarcastically. "Look it up in the dictionary." He replied with a grin, using a common Vexen-reply back at him.

"You think that would help?" the Chilly Academic ignored the sarcasm lacing the teen's words.

"Oh! You just got BURNED!" Axel slunk in, making little guns with his fingers, pointing them at the superior member. Roxas brightened up.

"Ya, you need _ice_ for that burn?" he added, laughing at his little joke.

"I have plenty, thanks." Vexen snapped, losing his patience. "And seeing as you just had to grace us with your presence, Number Eight, you might as well help out too." Axel looked up skeptically from his favorite couch, having no intention whatsoever of moving.

"That depends." He replied guardedly. "Whatcha want?"

"Simply your own viewpoint. What do you think the meaning of Christmas is?"

"I'm telling ya, that dictionary has all the answers." Roxas interrupted, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he mashed at the X button.

"Uh, well…" Axel pondered. "You don't get out much, do ya?" he broke off.

"These are orders from the Superior." Vexen growled through gritted teeth.

"Hmn, that's a good point too. He's too hurried to realize when he's out." The chakram user nodded, lost in his own amusing thoughts.

"NUMBER EIGHT!" Vexen yelled.

"Hmn? Oh, ya, my idea. Well, the whole thing is a federal holiday, you see? Well it means different things to different people, so I'm afraid that you're not gonna get a straight answer." He nodded happily. Up until this point, the fourth member had been listening interestedly. He snapped up and clutched his blank paper in his fist.

"That. Is .It!" he brushed passed the two lazy members angrily.

"You can always check a dictionary!" Axel shouted after him, chuckling when he heard the succeeding howl of anger.

* * *

After encountering Xaldin, Roxas, Axel, Xigbar, Demyx, and Marluxia and _still_ not getting any answers, Vexen was as on edge as he thought he could be without going completely insane. Well, all until he tripped and fell flat on his face over a golden reindeer just hidden around the corner. He eyed it evilly, and suppressing all of the different ways in which he could torture it for humiliating him. Dusting himself off, Vexen decided that searching out Larxene would be the perfect idea – after all, she was the one who wanted to go on with the stupid holiday in the first place. Suddenly he frowned. It was strange. He hadn't seen Larxene anywhere in the whole morning. Now it was almost lunchtime, and the blonde was still nowhere to be seen. With her festive spirit, one was bound to come across her multiple times a day, and seeing as Vexen spent so much of his time underground, it meant a lot that he knew that. And come to think of it, Zexion had disappeared too. While he did value his sleep, he often awoke at nine at the very latest. And he knew for a fact that Xigbar hadn't taken him out shopping this time. 

Careful not to trip over any more decorations that were plotting in some diabolical way to kill him, Vexen proceeded to Luxord and Zexion's room. After knocking thrice, he entered, finding an empty room.

"Need something?" a man asked from the door thickly. Number Four whirled around to see an almost-sober Luxord.

"I'm looking for Zexion." He replied, fighting to hold back his original thoughts.

"Oh…" Luxord scanned his dorm quickly. "Ya, he's not here."

"Obviously." Vexen snorted. "Can you tell me where I might find him? Or Larxene for that matter?" he spoke slowly, trying to ensure that the man had heard him.

"I dunno." Luxord shrugged. "Freaky little kid's probably studying more card techniques to beat me; I dunno how he does that. It's like he's psychic or something."

"It's called 'not having a hangover' or 'not getting constantly drunk'!" the Chilly Academic shot back scornfully, but Number Ten was already bottoms up in another mug of rum. Hmn… beverages… "Mind if I take a few of these?" he motioned to the uncorked bottles of rum, wine, and tequila. Luxord smiled drunkenly.

"Sure thang, meh friend! Be jolly!" the Gambler of Fate shoved him out the door, shoving bottles in his arms. Smiling wickedly, Vexen progressed to the kitchen, looking around cautiously for the stabbity chef. Sensing no ill, he tore through the cabinets. It was time to teach those imbeciles a lesson in trust. Laughing with what was left of his sanity; he uncorked the first bottle – a red wine – and poured the contents into a pitcher. To this he added a number of odd ingredients that might very well have caused a miniature nuclear explosion if digested; paprika, ground cinnamon, thyme, cayenne pepper, garlic, Kool Aid, Diet Dr. Pepper, Alka Seltzer tablets, vanilla ice cream, dehydrated apple slices, a few Vikaden, cranberries, fresh squeezed orange juice, and ice cubes… all blended together into one drink. And that was just the first one. The tequila and rum suffered much worse fates, including a horrifying amount of sardines, unsweetened chocolate, and cauliflower.

With a finishing touch, he added red ribbons to the handles of each pitcher as to remind himself NOT to drink from them, and placed them in the double door refrigerator. Giggling with glee, he tip toed from the kitchen, after having dumped carelessly everything he had used into the sink. But there was still one thing left to do – discover the meaning of Christmas. Begrudgingly, after a quick examination of the nearby premises, he pulled a dictionary from the shelf. Wincing as it made a heavy CRACK! as it plopped down upon the table. He ran his pointer finger down the edges of the pages, flipping open to the "C" page.

There were several interesting entries within; starting at the letter's index to the word he was searching for. He would pause to read them from time to time when one caught his eye, "carpal tunnel syndrome", "castrate", "chain saw", or "Chihuahua", irregardless of whether he knew the meaning or not, the previous listed being all ones he knew of course. Finally, he arrived upon his destination, "Christmas - the annual festival of the Christian church commemorating the birth of Jesus: celebrated on December 25 and now generally observed as a legal holiday and an occasion for exchanging gifts." He sat back in his chair irately. Now how hard would it have been for any of those morons to have given such a simple answer? He gasped suddenly. Maybe they all did know, and were laughing at him because he didn't know! Maybe they all thought he was crazy! Wait… he _was_ crazy.

DING! Vexen's head perked up upon hearing the call to a meal. You see, there were sirens in every room of the mansion – even underground – that served for many things; broadcasting, fire alarm, and a call to meals among other things. Closing the heavy tome, Number Four cradled the book in his arms and joined his co-workers at the table expectantly. Once everyone was seated, he cleared his throat and stood up. Twelve faces turned to look at him, glistening with fear. Vexen was a scary, scary person.

"I have gathered the research, Superior." He addressed Xemnas. The white tressed man frowned slightly. "As to the meaning of Christmas." Vexen specified. He flipped back in the dictionary to the entry and read it aloud. "So basically, this is a religious holiday that anyone and everyone who believes that Jesus is the son of God."

"What about the people who don't?" Axel quipped, grinning cockily. "Not like I'm sayin' anything." He added, looking up. "Just curious, ya know. What do those people do?"

"They obviously don't do anything!" Vexen snapped shut the book, giving the eighth member his scariest look.

"That's not true." Roxas argued. "Where do you think Hanukkah comes from then?"

"JEWS!" Xigbar cried, waving his glass around.

"Ya, that's right." The flame tressed man nodded. "And they play with those spinny things… they have four sides and little scribbles on 'em, and there's a stick at th-"

"A dradle?" Zexion suggested. Xigbar and Axel exchanged evil grins and began to sing in unison:

"I have a little dradle, I made it out of clay, and when it's dry and ready, with dradle I shall play! Dradle dradle dradle! I made you out of clay! Dradle dradle dradle! With dradle I shall play!" The table erupted in laughter as the pair ended up in an exaggerated pose, smiling broadly.

"Wow, you two actually know something cultural." Zexion said, bemused.

"Uh, actually…" Xigbar rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "We kinda learned it from Southpark."

"You should have just stopped talking." Larxene sighed. Axel watched her closely, silent a moment.

"You see those pitchers?" Vexen finally spoke up. "The ones with the ribbons on the handles? I made those." He announced proudly. The other members looked around in shock, swirling their glasses distastefully. Larxene snickered in her seat.

"Good job, Vexie. Want some?" she held the pitcher nearest her towards him.

"I think I'll be fine, Number Twelve." He shook his head knowingly, instead pouring into his cup the contents of an un-marked pitcher. He took a long, satisfied sip when… "WHAT THE DEVIL DID YOU PUT IN THIS?!" he spat, wiping his mouth vigorously.

"Come again?" Xaldin whispered.

"Are you TRYING to kill me?!" the Chilly Academic swore vehemently.

"Gotcha!" Larxene crowed. "Did you honestly think that we'd willingly drink something you made? Naw, Xaldy and I just switched the ribbons on the pitchers." She stuck out her tongue playfully. "Sure you don't want any?"

"No, thank you." He said stiffly, standing abruptly. Glowering at everyone else present, he dusted himself off and stalked out of the dining room. His eye twitched involuntarily as he overheard roars of sustained laughter after doing such, and decided the best thing to do at such time was to work off his embarrassment. Running his tongue across his upper teeth in an attempt to get rid of the aftertaste, Vexen punched in the combination behind the portrait. Why was it that the door seemed to slide back in such slow-motion? Must have been that alcohol in that "drink" of his.

The door locked into place with a loud CLANG! – but Vexen hardly noticed. Lights flickered into life from every angle in strands of red, white, green, blue, and pink. Garland of various and often gaudy colors draped the halls, mistletoe hung in obscene clumps above every doorway. Miniature pink and silver Christmas trees with children's decorations sat in holly covered pots, festive music drifted from some unknown source. Even the Shadow Heartless were adorned with flashing red noses and antlers fit for one's dog. Poinsettia in scarlet and silver laced through the strands of glittering lights, petals falling to the floor. Cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, and aspen scented candles wafted through the dank air. And there upon the whiteboard was a message scrawled in a feminine cursive. "Happy Christmas, Vexie! Be merry and jolly, and stay away from the holly!"

If he had been in an anime show, Vexen would have sweat-dropped. He knew that hand writing anywhere – the one and only Larxene, of course. Vexen looked down at the plant in his hand apprehensively. And then he realized; that wasn't holly at all… it was poison ivy! "LAARRRXEEENNNEEE!!!" he yelled. Oh ya, today was just not his day.

* * *

Heheh... why does it seem like the guys are always yelling at Larxy? Well what can I say, she _is_ a sadist so she can't be too sugary. But I want to show she's sweet too, hence t3h fluffiness from chapter three. Pwease review par usual. I love you people so much! squees 


	5. Lexy

A/N: Hooray! It's break time for me! Hopefully this means that I'll be able to work more on the next chapters. I'm very,very proud of the next one (that would be chapter 6, folks), but it is a bit different. Okay, so when I started this chapter I was enevitably stumped. I've never played CoM, only parts and pieces, and I have no idea how Lexeaus would act. So let's just say that I took some creative advantage with his character. Thankfully, my friend chocolate-wolfie thinks it's hilarius, so maybe all ya'll will agree. I hope so. By the way, happy belated Hannakuh to everyone who's Jewish... wait, you probably wouldn't be reading this is you were then, would you? Oh well, I have a friend who celebrates Hannakuh and Christmas even though they contradict each other, so who knows? Enjoy!

_**13 Days of Christmas**_

_By: SilverIceWolf_

_Day 5: Lexy_

'_On the fifth day of Christmas,_

_My Kingdom gave to me,_

_Five tomahawks,_

_Four scientists,_

_Three sideburns,_

_Two purple guns,_

_And a Zemmy who hates squee!'_

If one was to ask each member of Organization XIII to list characteristics of their co-workers, the one person they would have the most difficulty describing would unanimously be Number Five, Lexaeus. And this would have to be for one major reason – he was never around long enough to get to know. Now Lexaeus was undoubtedly very tall, large, and muscular. After all, being able to wield a tomahawk the size of a ping pong table was no small feat. And so the fifth member would be slipped into conversation:

"Anybody know where Lexaeus is?"

"Probably out hunting."

"Does he hunt?"

"I dunno. More like boxing, I think."

"Boxing?! Try biking."

"You're delusional. He'd crush the poor bike. Maybe something more like football."

"Where's he gonna play football? Against who?"

"… I still think he's out hunting…"

"Oh! I know! How about mountain climbing!"

"Oh, look! Food!"

"Food?"

"Where?!"

"YAY FOOD!"

And that's generally where said conversation would stop. While, as Vexen would put it, many people believed Lexaeus to be out and enjoying "testosterone filled activities", not a soul who ever had come across him would ever believe what he loved most.

"NO! Clarrriicccceee!!!" the built man cried, clutching a tissue box close to his chest. He was in what would be baggy sweats had it not been for his immense size, feet curled towards each other, socks only half-on. The "Silent Hero" had reclined in his undersized green beanbag chair, enraptured in his show. The screen flickered a bit, depicting a woman lying limp in a man's arms. The man looked up at his relative angrily.

"You!" he cried. "You, my own mother's sister's nephews, uncle's, brother's twice removed son! How could you do such a thing?!"

"But she's not even your wife!" the man replied.

"But I loved her! No! Clarice!"

"Clarriiiiccee." Lexaeus moaned, wiping at a stray tear with an already waded up tissue. But that was nothing compared to the twenty plus wads in the nearby garbage can. There came a faint rapping at the door, causing the man to jump nervously. "I- I'll be right there!" he called, steadying his voice. In a flash, he changed the channel, threw his used tissues into the can, and replaced the can to where it belonged, kicked the beanbag away, and straightened his clothes. Calmly, he opened the door to see his roommate, Xaldin. "Yo." He nodded causally. The other man merely grunted his recognition and sat on his bed, fixing one of his braids.

"So… WWE, hmn?" he glanced at the screen disinterestedly.

"Yup." Lexaeus plopped down across from Xaldin on his own bed. _Damn! And I never got to find out if Marissa was pregnant with John's kid, or Robert's kid!_ He internally cursed his co-worker's ill-timing.

"Your face is flushed." The Whirlwind Lancer commented.

"Hmn, oh? I took a shower not that long ago. Guess I'm still beat from my workout." The fifth member scrambled for an explanation. _Darn it, Suzanne! Are you going to choose Erik or not? It would be so sad if you left him, it broke my heart just to watch him mope after you!_

"So, what's with all the tissues?" Xaldin inquired as he deposited his gum in the bin.

"Had to clean up all the blood." Was his gruff reply. _Blood! Oh, there was ever so much blood when Jacob and that Mexican hitchhiker fought. And then Marcia nearly drove off of that cliff because she realized she loved them both. Thankfully, Brenda was there to give her some meds to calm her down._

"Blood? From what?" Xaldin asked interestedly.

"I cut myself shaving." The brunette instantly winced. Generally he was skilled at making plausible excuses to hide his secret obsession. But then he'd find himself to focused on the complexity of the plot and end up making a stupid and definitely non-macho excuse. Cutting yourself shaving was wimpy. Cutting yourself sliding halfway down a mountain while snowboarding was macho. Big difference. Almost as huge of a difference as the time that Clarice's grandmother's cousin was in the hospital because of an unknown type of cancer to when Ben's aunt's sister's half-brother on his mother's side's son's boyfriend was hospitalized for food poisoning. Once again, big difference.

"We didn't see you at breakfast this morning." Xaldin said, playing absentmindedly with the tassels on his pillow. And it wasn't just any pillow either; it was one of those wonderful, squishy foam pillows that are curved so that you don't get kinks in your neck when you sleep and help keep your spine straight. Only Xaldin didn't realize that he was sleeping on it the wrong way – the higher bump goes at your neck, the lower one towards the top of your head. So really it was just a wonderfully squishy pillow.

"I slept in late." Lexaeus replied with a yawn. And it wasn't so far from the truth either – he had slept in until seven (breakfast was served at seven thirty on weekends), flipped through the channels and found that there was a new episode of one of his favorite soaps on right then. Seeing as he wasn't really hungry anyways, Lexaeus simply nixed the morning meal and curled up in his bean bag, tissues at the ready. Besides, he was one of the only people Xaldin wouldn't kill from stealing cookies from the cookie jar. And Xaldin made some pretty killer cookies too. And not as in murderous either.

"There's still food in the kitchen and at the bar." The chef reminded him. As in "bar" he didn't mean a place where alcohol was passed out to the members like candy, but just as a long strip of marbled granite where food was laid upon for the late-risers and the constantly hungry, and there were always several barstools set underneath to be used.

"I'll remember that." The brunette assured him. His stomach growled powerfully. Down in the bar below would be heaps of pancakes in various flavors, steamy and moist. Fluffy scrambled eggs, jellied toast, soft buttery muffins, pitchers of the purest orange juice, milk in skim, one percent, and two percent, and crispy, juicy bacon and sausages. Hmn… he'd miss those cookies though.

"I wouldn't go just yet though." Xaldin warned.

"Why not?" Lexaeus frowned. _Didn't Denise say something like that to Bobby the night he turned up mysteriously missing and then they found him in the ditch beside the burned down church two days later?_

"Larxene's in there." The Whirlwind Lancer whispered ominously.

"Oh… when do you think she'll be gone?" the brunette asked. _Oh ya, I do _not_ want to end up like Bobby! _

"Probably never." The chef smirked.

"Eh?" the other man grunted. _OH MY GOD! Her soul is trapped in a time continuum and she's preying on the souls of the innocent to sustain her! Just like what that horrible woman Gina did to Tory! And then Arnold angsted because his love could never pass on with him. Poor, poor Larxene!_

"She's looking for you, man!" another voice called. Xaldin and Lexaeus jumped, turning their heads upwards to glower into Xigbar's cheerful expression. "I'd be careful if I were you." The second member continued placidly, completely at ease with his situation on the ceiling.

"And why would Larxene be looking for me?" the brunette frowned distractedly. _Marissa told Jennie the same thing about Garret, and the next thing we know, her mother had a heart attack from implications of Jennie running away and getting married because she was already married. And then they found out the kid belonged to Enrique!_

"It's not like she's about to ask you out, so don't go getting' yer boxers in a twist!" Xigbar joked. "Nah, I think she wants to put ya to work."

"Wha?!" The Silent Hero gaped, just now fully tuning into the conversation.

"Were you even listening to me, dude? I just said I don't think she likes you!" the gunner flipped the ends of his dangling ponytail through his fingers.

"Uh… ya. Sorry." Lexaeus mumbled. "So what does she want from me?"

"Help with the Christmas project… thing." Xigbar cocked an eyebrow. "In fact –" he reached into his jean's pocket and extracted a crumpled piece of pink lined paper. "– She insisted that I give this to you if I happened to come across you. And guess what? I did." He held out the note to the fifth member who took it cautiously. He looked to the older man for information, but Xigbar only shrugged. "I didn't read it."

"She wants a Christmas tree." He said plainly.

"She wants a what now?" the ashen haired man flipped of the ceiling and landed with surprising grace upon the dorm floor.

"A Christmas tree. Apparently it's a green pine tree that you put a bunch of ornaments on and display in your living room." Lexaeus read the tiny print in the right hand corner.

"Why?" Xaldin spoke up, redoing his braid for the fifth time.

"Dunno, it doesn't say. But your supposed to put a star or an angel at the top." The brunette shrugged.

"COOL! We get to tie a paupu to a tree! How pointlessly hilarious." The eldest member grinned. The other two glanced at him in disturbance.

"She wants me to go out and find a green tree, cut it down, and drag it back here with my car." The tomahawk wielder specified. "But where am I gonna find a tree?"

"Uh, in the mountains. Duh!" Xigbar tapped the fifth member's forehead. Lexaeus swatted his hand away.

"Well, I suppose we should move on then." He got up from his bedside and stretched, searching about for a decent pair of jeans and a jacket.

"What do you mean by 'we'?" Xaldin asked suspiciously, trimming off the split-ends with a small pair of orange handled scissors.

"Uh… well. As in me, I suppose." His dorm mate shrugged.

"I wanna go!" Xigbar said eagerly.

"Well…" Lexaeus gave him an apprehensive look.

"Don't make me go all superior-member on you!" the other man warned playfully. "'Sides. I think I might know what Larxy-parxy-poo has in mind." He sung her spur-of-the-moment nickname in a bouncy tune, swishing his finger back and forth whilst doing so.

"Yes, sir." The brunette sighed, zipping up his dark wash jeans. Thankfully, his sweatshirt was also in black – if Larxene caught him wearing navy and black together, she'd have a fit. Or worse yet, Marluxia would have caught him. Marluxia would've made him change. It was a law of fashion to never wear navy and black together, and Organization XIII had been forced into this law by their twelfth and eleventh members. On the plus side, they always looked acceptable in public.

The pair left Xaldin to brood in the bedroom. As they strolled down the numerous and vast hallways, Xigbar chattered on animatedly beside him. They passed a small handful of members en route to the garage, but they stopped at length when they encountered Roxas in the living room. This room was a bit small, being more rectangular than anything and was furnished was crimson sofas and loveseats. In fact, this was the third living room out of six and was mostly used for entertainment – as it was currently. The light beach wood coffee table had been pushed to the side and before the rather expensive Panasonic 42" flat screen TV were two metal pads. Axel and Roxas both stood atop a dance pad, grinning at each other as the first notes of the song began to play. Lexaeus kept up the act that he wanted to get moving, but deep down, each member held a secret passion for watching the two play Dance Dance Revolution. It wasn't that they were incredibly talented – although their constant play was improving their skills – but they weren't atrocious either.

All the same, the sight was comical because Axel always swore when he missed an arrow, and Roxas would jump around the pad after he messed up, trying to get back into the rhythm, screwing up even more. They both had their own flow of movement when they danced. Roxas tended to stop the arrows even though his footwork was quick and moved stiffly, tending to enjoy the songs with a definite beat that was simplistic but then had choruses were the footwork demanded quick movement. Unlike Axel, he loved freeze arrows. Axel HATED freeze arrows – to him they just clogged up the song, well, unless they were placed strategically at the end or middle or wherever they matched the voice singing. But for the most part he loved the combination arrows, where you have to step on more than one arrow in a row. That and very, very fast songs. He wasn't any better than Roxas was at the game, but he tended to do better with faster paced songs than slower and generally easier ones. But his one key advantage was that he could move his hips, enabling him to twist around and switch the arrows his feet landed on in quick succession. Soon after, the song ended – Burn the Floor – the two stood there panting a while, Roxas glaring at his best friend.

"You've practiced this one, haven't you?" he scowled.

"Yup." Axel grinned victoriously. He couldn't help it, it was his favorite song. That and Drop the Bomb. End of the Century was pretty fun too.

"Oh! Err… hi Xigbar." The towhead suddenly looked up.

"Huh?" his companion looked towards the door. "Hey Xiggy!" he smiled walking over to his friend casually. "What's up?" he looked to Lexaeus. "Where are you guys going?"

"Larxene shopping." The large man answered gruffly.

"Oh, I see." Axel nodded sagely. "What does she want you guys to get?"

"A tree!" the sharpshooter announced, making wild gesticulations with his hands. "A Christmas tree to be exact. But she'll wanna decorate it too, so I suppose that we'll have to get ornaments."

"Ya think?" the redhead shrugged, popping open the top off his soda. "I mean, think about it." He went on after taking a sip. "She's come to each of you in order so far, right?"

"Well, lessee – first she persuaded the Superior, then she asked me to find lights, then she had Xaldin go shopping, an then just yesterday Vexen had his part, and then today…" Xigbar counted off on his fingers, looking at Lexaeus once finished. "Ya, you're right. But I don't exactly get what you mean."

"Well, let Zexion handle it. I mean, it's probably going to take you all day to find the right tree anyways, and judging from what I've heard, it takes about a day to decorate one. And then it would take about a day just to find all the ornaments to catch up on all the years of collecting them that we've missed – which will probably fall to Zexion. Which means…" he chuckled evilly. "That Saïx has to be the one to decorate the tree!"

"Sweet." Roxas smiled, shaking his Sprite absent mindedly. "We'll have to go point and laugh."

"Say Roxy." The pepper haired member began. "You wanna come with us? I'd hate to pull you away from your game and all, but I was just wondering." He slunk a sly grin to Axel in a split-second. The redhead understood.

"Uh…" the teen looked to his friend for an answer, but Axel just shrugged nonchalantly.

"Whatev, kid. I don't care."

"Ya, alright." Roxas nodded, grabbing his discarded cream colored jacket from one of the couches and hurriedly pulled it on.

"See ya kid." The Flurry of Dancing Flames ruffled his hair affectionately. "Take care." He waved the trio off, chuckling as he heard Roxas' yelp after opening his soda. "Thank you Xiggy!" he purred. "Just you wait, Roxy-boy! Burn the Floor won't be the only song I'll get memorized!"

And just like that, another friend was aiding their quest to find the Christmas tree! Upon the senior member's suggestion, they three had all piled into Lexaeus' "Blazing Copper Metallic" Ford Edge and headed off to the mountains. It was a brand new 2007 model, and not too many people on the road had one. But then again, that was another perk to being apart of Organization XIII – top-of-the-line, brand new cars approximately every other year. Other vehicles, like Axel's motorcycle or Larxene's Vespa, was purely bought with the member's own money, but the cars were supplied by their boss. It wasn't like it was a big deal to him anyways; the old cars were always sold and in top condition as it was, and any remainder of money left could be easily covered by his very large bank account. As a result, Organization XIII flourished with many nice added luxuries.

"Well, I'm bored." Xigbar announced. He swiveled around in his seat and looked at Roxas who was busy staring out the window. "Wanna turn on some music?"

"Huh? Ya, sure." The teen shrugged.

"Any particular station?" the senior member asked, reaching for the dials.

"Nope."

"_Madison! I cannot live without you!"_

"_Oh! Oh, Billy!"_

_insert overly-dramatic love music here_

"_Madison?!"_

"_Rick!"_

"What the hell is this crap?!" Xigbar jumped back, staring at the radio in horrification. He looked over suspiciously at the driver. Little beads of sweat had formed on Lexaeus' brow.

"It's err… nothing. I think Larxene borrowed my car not that long ago. She must have changed the channel… ya." He nodded to himself. _What the hell do you mean by "crap"? This stuff is so gripping, and romantic, and entertaining, and touching, and…oh crap, I'm starting to sound like Marluxia huh? But "Viola Town" is my favorite soap on radio! Hmn… sounds like Rick found out about Madison's boyfriend. Too bad I don't get to hear what'll happen next. _He glared at the other two discretely._ I think this was also supposed to be the episode when you find out if Rajulio is going to adopt that Chinese kid or not, and what Jerry and Kim are _really_ doing at work. Damn the impeccable timing._

"Larxene listens to soap operas?" Roxas spoke up disbelievingly. "That's amazing. I mean, she's not exactly what you'd call the sentimental type."

"Guess so." Lexaeus shrugged stiffly.

"There." Xigbar sat back, satisfied. The radio was now switched to F.M. and set to 107.9. The last notes of the song "Fergilicious" drifted through the now silent car. As the next song began, Roxas' eye gave an involuntary twitch. The gunner laughed mercilessly as he realized which song it was and gave Roxas the thumbs-up sign.

"Gotta love that J. McCartney!" he drawled.

"Dear, God make it stop." Roxas moaned, banging his head against Lexaeus' headrest.

"Why?" the brunette wondered, looking at his two companions distractedly whilst attempting not to hit any of the cars around him. _Oh… a deer crossing sign. Better look out for deer's too. 'Cause I don't want to hit one and break it's leg like Courtney did, because she had to take it to the vet and her ex was working there and they got into this HUGE catfight and –_

"MAKE IT STOP!!!" Roxas screamed, squirming in his seat.

"Then why do you sing his songs in the shower?" Xigbar smirked. The teen paled and took his hands from his face.

"I-I do not." He protested shakily.

"Do too."

"Do not."

"You sound just like him too."

"Really?!"

"Gotcha!"

"Wha- XIGBAR!"

"Now is that any way to treat a superior member?" the man chided jokingly. "Be a good boy now." He turned around in his seat so he was facing forwards, fighting the urge to teleport to random places in the car. "You _do_ sound like him though."

"Shuttup." The teen mumbled, sinking deeper into his seat and trying to hide the blush on his cheeks.

"Make me." The pepper haired man chuckled, turning up the song even more. "You know you want to!"

"I do not!"

"Sure you don't."

"Exactly!" Roxas spat. "Wait… no." he thought after a while.

"Come on, Roxy! Sing for us!" Xigbar crowed. Lexaeus shook his head in exasperation. _They're like children! It's like when Jeremy and Evanna went to the Grand Canyon with their family. And then their two boys were bickering the entire way there and then Mark called and said he didn't want _his_ kids to go to the Grand Canyon, and Evanna said 'Screw it!' And then Jeremy was threatening to shoot the kids because they wouldn't shut up, and they didn't, and then Evanna drove over the side of the road and their car rolled and rolled and rolled and then they crashed into the ravine of the Grand Canyon. But only the kids survived. So they were pretty much screwed. _

Suddenly Lexaeus became aware of a change in the car. For one, Xigbar was… quiet. And_… _Roxas was singing! By this time the song was halfway over – or only half started depending on how you like your glass of water – and the boy had summoned with the greatest of ease a few silvery notes of the melody, humming softly at the background solos. What was the most surprising, at least in the brunette's mind, was how nice Roxas' voice sounded – not all rough and scratchy like a rocker's voice, and not all high pitched or out of key like other boys his age.

In fact, Lexaeus couldn't recall ever hearing the boy sing, he was sure he would have remembered it if he had. It was true that there was always someone singing in the hallways – Demyx with his smooth, innocent voice, Axel with his growling rock-inspired, sexy (though not to Lexy, of course) voice, Marluxia in high pitched jingles, Larxene humming under her breath, Zexion's emo music, and the occasional way-off-pitch and often drunken Luxord. Lexaeus didn't have the ear for music; the closest he came to singing was whistling… or reciting some really annoying commercial jingle on television that seemed to air every break. He still hadn't figured out who it was that sung Phantom of the Opera every now and then though. He had the sneaking suspicion that it was the Superior though…

The song ended and Xigbar clapped his approval, causing Roxas to blush and stare fixedly out the window. "Your turn." He grumbled. The three waited anxiously as the next song began to play. After hearing the first three notes, Roxas' eyes grew huge and he began to laugh uncontrollably.

"What?" the elder member asked. "What's so funny?"

"Don't you recognize what song this is?" the teen wheezed.

"Uh…" the man paused.

"It's Hips Don't Lie by SHAKIRA!"

"Oh… crap!" Xigbar swore, slapping his knee in frustration.

"Larxene should try singing this." Lexaeus spoke up thoughtfully. _I wonder if she can sing opera like Laurie can. Laurie was amazing! She really shocked Alan. And then they got married two months later. It was so romantic and sweet, and oh, ya… they divorced in season three because they were both cheating on each other and Alan was already married and had three illegitimate children._

"That would be interesting." Roxas smirked, recalling the music video. Xigbar turned around and swatted him upside the head.

"Bad boy, Roxy! She's a whole three years older than you."

"So?" the teen shrugged.

"Anyways." The gunner cackled. "Don't you think _Axel_ should try singing this?"

"WHAT?!" Roxas and Lexaeus exclaimed, Roxas' previous thoughts colliding with the suggestion to make a disturbing image indeed.

"Well, have you ever watched him play DDR? I mean seriously! It's not enough that he has a perfect hourglass figure that even Larxene must be jealous of, but he can move like, like, liiike…" he searched for a word.

"Mario Lopez?" Lexaeus suggested.

"Who?"

"Didn't you watch Dancing with the Stars? You know, Mario Lopez, the one that just barely lost to Emitt Smith the football player? The one that danced with the really hot chick in the salsa and Paso Doble and other really hot Latin dances?" the brunette prodded.

"Oh!" Xigbar smiled. "He danced with Karina! Karina Smirnoff. Isn't she the second best Latin dancer in the world?"

"Uh-huh." The tomahawk wielder nodded distractedly as he went onto the on ramp.

"I know who she danced with!" the second member recalled. "Ah, dang your right! Axel _can_ dance like Mario. And they said Mario was pro material too, huh?"

"Yup."

"So… how bad off do you think we'll be after Axel realizes that we signed him up for Latin dance?" Roxas joked.

"We'll see now, won't we?" Xigbar said evilly, punching in a number off a business card.

* * *

"THE SNOW!!!" Xigbar cried, jumping around ecstatically. 

"You weirdo." Roxas cocked an eyebrow, burrowing his face into his wool scarf.

"I'm not weird!" the man said indignantly, pointing at his chest. Lexaeus sighed and tried his best not to pay attention to them. So, a tree, huh? Well there sure as hell were plenty of those around here. How hard could it be, right?

"YO!" Xigbar screamed in his face.

"WUH! Wh- what?!"

"I've only been talking to you for the last two minutes. Anyways –" he snuck a glance at Roxas who was busy piling snow into a mound with his foot. "Do you think there's any deer around here?"

"What the?! Number Two, please. I hardly think this is the time." The brunette protested. Roxas' head perked up and his eyes coruscated with mischief.

"What didja just call him?"

"Number Two?" the large man repeated questioningly.

"That's not funny, Roxas." Xigbar said quickly, catching the teen's meaning.

"Yes it is! Wait 'till I tell Axel!"

"Wait 'till I tell Axel you signed him up for Latin dance classes."

"Shutting up."

"That's what I thought." The man cooed, stroking his ponytail. They trotted after Lexaeus, eyeing trees here and there. Roxas suddenly stopped and giggled.

"Huh?" the men chorused.

"Then what does that make Xaldin?" the boy wheezed. There was silence, and then an eruption of laughter. By now the fifth member had understood their crude joke, and was prepared to make one of his own.

"Sure, I mean ya, but…" he turned to them both for dramatic effect. "You can only imagine what _Larxene_ is."

"That's not nice to make fun of a girl, Number Five!" Xigbar scolded, guffawing.

"It is when they make fun of you." The man countered.

"Oh… good point." Roxas agreed. "And she'll pwn us even more if we don't get that tree of hers." The group of three all paused and looked at their surroundings.

"Well, you said that you think that you know what she has in mind, right?" the sturdy man asked._ I am not going to remember that scene, I am not going to remember that scene where Amie goes and –, I AM NOT GOING TO REMEMBER THAT SCENE._

"Uh-huh." Xigbar mumbled, inspecting a branch of the tree behind him.

"And what would that be?" the blonde asked, kicking at more snow. "Something that's fifty feet tall, green, perfectly preserved with frosted tips, laced with pinecones, poinsettias, cranberries, and twiggy things, and has a strong and sturdy base?"

"Uh, ya. Basically." His friend assented.

"Shiz." Lexaeus moaned. "Has she ever been to the snow to know that there is no such tree? Tree's don't stay 'perfectly preserved' or 'frosted' or come with little cranberries, and definitely not poinsettias!"

"Well we'll just have to come as close to it as we can, right?"

"I guess." The brunette turned to a random tree. "How about this one?" Xigbar paced beside him and looked at it critically.

"Too short, I think. This tree is probably 'round nine feet give or take. And… it's kinda deformed. The right side is all fluffy, and the left is compacted and crappy. Next!"

"What about this tree?" Roxas motioned to the one he stood before. Its needles had a sort of grey undertone.

"Not this one either." Xigbar disagreed. "The trunk is too short and it would make it hard to chop down and have enough left to mount. Besides, it's a bit scrawny."

"Okay, then. How about THIS tree?" the fifth member inquired, tugging on a branch and showering down small patches of snow.

"NO! Do you see how short this one is?"

"What about this one?"

"No!"

"This one?"

"Too fat."

"This one?"

"Too dead."

"What about–"

"Too much trunk, not enough tree."

"Okay, then how about–"

"That tree looks demented!"

"This one?"

"Hell naw!"

"That one?"

"Are you retarded?"

"NO!"

"Well, then keep looking!"

"XIGBAR WE'VE BEEN THROUGH EVERY FRIKKEN TREE ALREADY!" Roxas spat in rage. "What the hell else are we supposed to do?!" Lexaeus frowned and burrowed into his jacket pocket, re-reading Larxene's note.

"Uh guys…" he began.

"WHY DON'T WE GO TO ANOTHER MOUNTAIN THEN, GENIUS?"

"Guys?"

"SURE! AND THEN YOU'RE GONNA COMPLAIN ABOUT ALL THOSE TREES TOO!"

"Guys?"

"MAYBE I WILL! I'M SORRY FOR BEING WORRIED ABOUT OUR LIVES!"

"GUYS!" the tomahawk wielder exploded. Xigbar dropped his fist, and Roxas let go of his iron grip on the former's ponytail. They backed away from each other slowly. "Larxene never once said that we had to get a _real_ tree." He meeped.

"What?" Roxas blinked. "You mean we went crazy because you misread the note?"

"Not exactly…" the brunette began backing up nonetheless.

"GET HIM!" Xigbar cried, hurling a compact snowball at Lexaeus' fleeing back.

"GERANIMO!" Roxas whooped, sending three more in quick succession. Lexaeus stood a handful of yards away, panting from having the wind knocked out of him.

"Oh you asked for it, alright!" he called cheerily, scooping up a large handful (for he had large hands) of snow and rolling it into a ball. Xigbar and Roxas exchanged disturbed glances and fled. "That's right! You run!" the large man called, clipping the back of Roxas' leg with a chunk of icy snow.

"Nobody does that to my buddy!" Xigbar cried, preparing more of his arsenal. "Irregardless of whether they're a Nobody or not!" While the second member held the brunette's attention, Roxas snuck up behind him and sent a snowball flying at the back of the man's head.

"YES!" the teen punched the air with a gloved fist.

"YOU!" Lexaeus whirled around, eyes round. Roxas yelped and ran off, laughing as the other man bent over to scoop up another handful of snow. Leaving a perfect target of his rear end for the free shooter.

"Ten points!" Xigbar chuckled. As he laughed in merriment of his achievement, a clump of ice smacked into the side of his face. He sputtered and wiped off the cold ice, looking around suspiciously. Then he spotted Roxas. "YOU!" he exclaimed, clutching a snowball in his hand. "You backstabbing evil little son of a –" WHAMO! Another icy bullet struck at his back he turned around. "You turned him to the dark side." He whispered dramatically, throwing his 'weapon' at Lexaeus.

The two fought extensively, each dripping wet. As the brunette aimed a shot at Xigbar's shoulder, the elder man ducked just as another snowball whizzed passed his face. He landed in a snow drift with a soft thud and turned on his back to see Roxas grinning down over him, white orb in his hand.

"Check-mate!"

* * *

"I hate irony." Xigbar shivered, ice crystallizing on his skin under his clothes. 

"Xiggy! Xiggy!" the blonde teen shouted excitedly. "I found the heater!" he jumped up and down, shedding off his outer coat.

"THE HEATER!" the second member exclaimed, attracting several glances from perturbed shoppers. "You're still a traitor though." He glared, standing next to the teen in the center of Complete Backyard.

"So how much will that be?" Lexaeus asked the employee beside him.

"600, sir." The man cheered. Boy would this be good for his commission! Resignedly, the fifth member forked over the cash and watched as his purchase was boxed up and strapped to the roof of his burnt orange Ford Edge. Calling his companions to him, they all set off for the castle, with a tree that was fifty feet tall, green, perfectly preserved with frosted tips, laced with pinecones, poinsettias, cranberries, and twiggy things, and had a strong and sturdy base. Xigbar was right; irony sucks.

* * *

Bwahahahaha! Lexy is a fruit! LOL Hope all you Lexaeus fans out there aren't too mad at me. Well... you know what to do! Christmas is only nine days away! 


	6. Zexy

A/N: WOW! I cannot believe how popular this story has become! You people rock! -squees- And now to address my wonderful reviewers, sorry if it is just a tad tardy. Muk master, I LOVED your review, it was very encouraging... please don't cry too much, LOL. Reading Chick, thanks for correcting my retardation - of course your right, Iron is Fe not I. -shakes head- Mrs. Cecil would be ashamed. Mooncry, I'm sure you're not the only one to not get the number joke, so I'll explain here: Okay, so this is a rather crude and lame joke. A polite way to say what you have to _go_ is by saying number one or number two. So my friends and I were wondering... what is number three? Both? And then I thought up... well, what would that make Larxene seeing as she's the only female and the joke is on excretories. Hmn, could have been better. -blushes- Sorry, I know it's lame. And Oathkeepra, I'm really glad you loved last chapter. To be honest, I had no idea what to do with Lexeaus, and I randomly thought up, "Huh, that would be really funny if big, ole muscular Lexy was really soft hearted and loved soap operas." I guess it worked! This chapter I'll already warn, is a bit different from the rest. I really love Zexion's character, and felt compelled to delve into it. There is still some humor, don't worry, but all-in-all, the chapter is a lot more intense - uh, as in angst and hardcore truth stuff... not... ya... but there _is_ squish! Yay squish! Enjoy!

_**13 Days of Christmas**_

_By: SilverIceWolf_

_Day 6: Zexy_

'_On the sixth day of Christmas,_

_My Kingdom gave to me,_

_Six emo's angsting,_

_Five tomahawks,_

_Four scientists,_

_Three sideburns,_

_Two purple guns,_

_And a Zemmy who hates squee!'_

While Organization XIII had friends amongst themselves, and generally hung together in small groups, it was a very rare occurrence for them to be all together in one room at the same time. Well, most of them at least. Zexion had found a book on one of the numerous bookshelves about the castle that was filled with unofficial Christmas stories. Demyx had begged to hear it, and the others couldn't help the feelings of curiousness that arose within them to learn more about the mysterious world of those around them. So a large congregation of them had gathered in yet another random living room, this one being the most formal living room that a so far undecorated tree sat. Demyx, Axel, Roxas, Marluxia, and Xigbar sat around upon the furniture as the purple tressed youth read aloud to them.

"He tossed his fag into the empty fireplace, the embers causing the flames to roar into life." Zexion read. "I pac-"

"Whoa! Whoa, wait!" Axel grinned ecstatically, looking from face to face. "You mean they have gay people in here?" the teen shot him a disparaging look. "I mean, really?" the flame tressed man went on excitedly. "Are we gonna toss Marly in the fire or what?!"

"Fag is slang for cigarette, Axel." Zexion sighed, placing fingers to his temple. "As well as being slang for a homosexual."

"Oh." The Flurry of Dancing Flames sat back disappointedly. "I thought we got to toast 'em."

"You're horrible!" Demyx teased, hurling a pillow at his chest. Marluxia simply glared his irritation.

"I am _not_ a fag." He huffed moodily. "I'm bisexual, there's a difference. Got it memorized?" he threw in.

"HEY! Hey, not cool. That's _my _catch-phrase!" Axel whined.

"In my opinion, you're both fags." Xigbar laughed good naturedly from the sofa.

"You've got that right." Larxene giggled from the doorway, a piece of lined paper and a purple ink pen in her hand.

"Uh-oh, it's Larxene." Roxas muttered under his breath.

"Hi Larxene!" Demyx called.

"Hi Demmy-kun." She smiled at him sweetly. "Hate to break up the party and all, but I'm going to need someone to go and pick out a tree topper."

"Couldn't ya get one of the others to do it?" Roxas whined.

"No, frankly." Larxene shook her head. "It's not like I'm about to ask the Superior, and numbers two through five are now scared for life, I think, sans you, Xigbar. But then again, you were pretty messed up to begin with anyway. And the fact that you and Roxas aren't sick from the extended amount of cold you suffered through in chapter five must indicate that the authoress likes you. She doesn't like Lexaeus that much though, so he's sicker than a dog. So that really only leaves Zexion, Saïx, who is supposed to receive some great torture later anyways, Axel, Demyx, Luxord who is currently drunk and therefore out of the question, Marly, and Roxas. And the authoress likes all ya'll, so you're pretty much screwed. And don't even ask if I can do it because I am merely here to please her guy friend and to scare you all into doing my bidding with true feminine power!" The six men stared at her in horrification at her random bout of out-of-characterness.

"Who are you and what have you done with Larxene?" Roxas blinked.

"Uh… huh?" Larxene blinked and looked around. "What?"

Silence.

"Oh, ya. The Christmas tree topper. Who wants to go get it?"

"I suppose I will." Zexion sighed gratefully, dog-earing the current page and placing the book on the plush ottoman. "But I'll need someone to drive me."

"I will." Axel volunteered. "I'll have to go and fetch my keys though. Do you wanna take the bike or the Ferrari?" he grinned devilishly. Zexion blanched. Axel wasn't the best of drivers, it was true, but he had the amazing record of never getting into an accident even once, and despite the flashy red color of his car, the cops had never ticketed him for his favorite part of driving – speed. Hence the motorcycle. It was sleek and black with leather interior and special silver wheels. His personal insignia – the red and black chakrams – was emblazed on both sides of the bike right above the back wheels and under the second, flat seat. The wheels themselves were special because they were double wide to support the girth of the bike and had traction even in mountainous or treacherously slick conditions. In fact, the whole thing was very reminiscent of Cloud Strife's Fenrir, but sleeker and more modern then industrial. And like any good motorcyclist, Axel had a black leather riding jacket and dark helmet with matching studded gloves and belt. Needless to say, Axel loved his motorcycle very, very much.

"Uh… the Ferrari, please." Zexion muttered. "Sorry, man."

"Naw, that's cool." The flame tressed man shrugged. "'Sides. Why else do ya think I got the Ferrari? Nice choice, by the way." He snickered as he headed for the room he and Demyx shared. Zexion rolled his eyes. Sometimes he had the impression that Axel was a tad egotistical. Sure he tended to be sarcastic, rebellious, and cocky, but all-in-all he was still a good friend and did have a big heart when he decided to show it.

"So." He turned to the blonde woman. "What is this 'tree topper' supposed to look like?"

"Uh, well, anything really." She shrugged.

"Sweet! Get a sitar! Get a sitar!" Demyx squeed from the floor, bouncing up and down excitedly.

"No, Demyx. I'm not gonna get a sitar for the tree."

"Awwwww." The mullet-haired member whined.

"But really, Larxene. What should it be?" the violet tressed youth questioned.

"Well, a tree topper is generally like an angel or a star. On the off occasion there are also snowflakes, Santa Claus, snowmen, and just large bulbous ornaments. But feel free to get whatever you like, I trust in your judgment." She announced.

"I got it." Zexion nodded his acknowledgement. "What's your guys' preference?" he turned to Roxas, Demyx, Xigbar, and Marluxia.

"How about something with flowers, desu?" Marly suggested. Xigbar ruffled his hair comically.

"Naw, dude. No way in hell are we putting frikken fruity flowers on our tree. Uh, try to look for a star or something pointy and shiny." He suggested.

"Shiny?!" Demyx exclaimed. "Anything shiny works!" he nodded happily.

"Sure, whatever." Roxas shrugged when everyone looked to him. "Shiny works."

"Hey, ya ready yet?" Axel asked leaning against the doorframe, his keys dangling between his fingers.

"Huh?" Zexion looked up sharply. Apparently the pyro had used the portals of darkness to get to his room and back so quickly. "Ya, let's go."

* * *

"AXEL!" Zexion spasmed, gripping the edges of his seat with white knuckled fists. 

"What?!" the red tressed man laughed.

"Slow down, you almost hit that car." The teen scolded.

"Geez, and you don't even have a license yet, kid." Axel teased.

"I wish I did, then I wouldn't be stuck in here with a crazy driver!" Zexion spat.

"There's nothing wrong with the way I drive." The redhead sniffed, swerving to avoid being hit. "Everyone else is just too slow."

"You should have your license revoked." The purple tressed teen griped. "You're a menace to society. I swear, one day we'll see your face on a wanted poster. We will!"

"Good." Axel nearly purred, baring a fanglike canine tooth. "That's just the way I like it." He turned to his younger friend. "Embrace the rebellion, it's one hell of a ride!"

"Ya, I think I'm feeling it alright." Zexion muttered. His companion simply chuckled. "Unfortunately, we can't all get away with murder, Axel."

"Murder? I'm just havin' some fun!" the other joked.

"No, this is murder." The teen grumbled.

"Don't sweat it, man. You know I've never been caught or gotten into an accident." Axel shrugged.

"I'm sure you've caused plenty."

"Hmn, who knows? Thankfully I'm far away by then, so I don't hafta deal with it." He smirked. "'Sides, it can't be so bad driving with me, now can it? I mean, I _am_ chauffeuring you around in a _Ferrari_."

"You egotistic jerk… green light." Zexion pointed a shaky hand to the light.

"Huh? Oh, thanks." And in the next three seconds, they were far ahead of the other cars, vrooming off and barely avoiding the other cars.

* * *

"Have fun now." Axel waved the teen off. "Oh! Hold up!" he suddenly remembered. "Call me when you're done, okay? You only need to get a tree topper, so I'll come getcha and pay for it." 

"Sure." Zexion nodded.

"Oh, and another thing." The redhead smirked, beckoning the teen over to whisper in his ear. Zexion's eyes widened, a slight smile graced his lips. "Got that memorized?" Axel snickered.

"Heh… sure thing."

"Good! See ya kid! Take care and don't talk to strangers!" Axel wagged a finger at the teen jokingly.

"No, don't worry, Ax… I'll just give money to hobos so they can buy drugs and runaway with a serial killer." Zexion rolled his violet orbs.

"Right, have fun with that!" the pyro winked and tapped a finger to his temple before driving off. The violet tressed teen watched after him wistfully – as much as he loathed driving with Axel, he'd much rather be there in the car with him than out here, having to go in _there_. And there meant the mall. More than anything, he hated the mall… well, almost anything. The only other thing was probably school.

It was true, he was a genius in all-out logic, but because of it, kids had a tendency to make fun of him for it. Not like he was an extrovert, quite the opposite really. Zexion feared constantly that someone would discover that he wasn't like the rest of them – for either his lack of heart or… the other reason. If he had a heart, than he was sure things would have been different for him. It was true that he was a loner by nature and would rather spend an afternoon by himself in a field watching everything around him fade to night, or sit in a windowsill and think to himself, possibly composing a piece mentally than go out to a crowded party or sports game. But even at that, he didn't have a single friend at school, and as much as he told himself and everyone around him, it did hurt. He had purposefully distanced himself from others to protect himself, but the fact that nobody cared enough to even attempt to be his friend… but he had seen enough of life around him. Friends were never permanent – girls and guys would end up getting together, and then break up a week later. Girls who were lifelong friends would finally get sick of each other, guys would get in fights. Perhaps it was better not to have anyone to worry about.

But it wasn't lack of companionship that Zexion hated most about school, it wasn't working on projects alone, or trying to dumb himself down so that he didn't stick out to much, but it was the students around him – his peers. Of course everyone belonged to a clique, well, everyone sans himself. And each clique received him differently. His favorite groups were the ones who ignored him or were completely unaware of his existence, mainly being the anime fans, complete and utter losers, the over-weight crowd, the skateboarders, the ditzy, weird, gullible girls, and those kids that spent their lunch period playing cards that would sometimes come to school in strange attire, declaring themselves knights or some such nonsense. Then there were the Goths and Emo's that actually detested each other, and were trying to figure out which he was more like – apparently the rockers had decided he wasn't their material. The three above groups were also the druggies, so he didn't have to worry about them. Then there were the nerds who were secretly worshiping him or some other creepy, stalkerish thing. In the social ladder above the nerds were the quiet intellectuals, which Zexion could have easily fit into if he wanted to, as they shared the common interests of observation, writing, drawing, and on the rare occasion singing. Sometimes Zexion wondered if it would be worth it to join them, at least they weren't victimized. Which brought his thoughts to his least favorite group – the Preps – the socially elite. The Preps had it all; cars, girls, clothes, money, accessories, big parties, gadgets, whatever. They were completely plastic, had no true friends, and were so incompetent with their own lives because of it that they tortured others to make themselves feel better. "Others" being Zexion mainly.

Zexion never had figured out why they had targeted him, exactly. He hadn't done anything out of the ordinary; he hadn't gotten into a fight with any of them, or done anything that would harm their precious pride. In the end, he figured it was because of the painfully obvious fact that he didn't belong anywhere. He didn't conform and find a group, and worst of all, he didn't care. And that bugged the Preps to no end. They picked on him at school mercilessly, but he blew them off entirely, letting them get away with it. After all, there was no reason to be embarrassed seeing as he had no friends in the first place. He did know that he had some slight power over them, which in the end only made things worse for him. On one occasion before school, some jocks tried to jump him, and he snapped. No one was ever able to get a clear account of what had happened; only that Zexion must have been carrying a knife due to the long cuts along the other boys' forearms and tears in their clothing. But when the principal had searched the teen, there was no indication of a scuffle or any concealed weapon, and he got off free. But the horror stories that those jocks told instantly circled around campus. That was a month ago, and the rumors still hadn't died down. Thus, Zexion hated the mall – it was the haven to his enemies.

Bowing his head against the wind, the violet tressed teen hurried inside the ominous building and felt the instant gratification of the warmth from within. Currently, he was inside a Macy's, and sensing the danger, he quickly moved on to the actual mall building. The building being foreign to him, he scanned a nearby directory, sighing heavily when he realized the most helpful store to be all the way at the other side of the building. The walk over was nerve wracking, but uneventful, although he was certain he had seen John and his gang around the food court. At last he arrived at Hallmark; hopefully they'd have what he was looking for so he could just call Axel and leave.

Par usual, the store was heavily decorated with a large assortment of knick-knacks and things that Zexion was sure had no actual purpose. First things first. He slipped into the isle that displayed tree ornaments and selected the item Axel requested, not helping but to feel a small twinge of triumph as he asked for the manager to put it on hold for him. There was one major problem with Hallmark, at least in the teen's eyes; there were so many eye-catching objects that would send him flying off into another world and forget what it was he was doing there in the first place. It wasn't like he was one to get easily distracted by small, shiny objects or anything, but he did appreciate the beauty in everything, especially when there was so little around him to behold.

And now was no exception. He bent down over a glass case that held finely crafted crystal prisms that had images etched into them with lasers. He pondered if Larxene would appreciate something like it, but figured she'd prefer something more hard-core, whatever that may be. Even though he lived with her, he didn't have the slightest clue what it was he should get her – although he'd never outright admit it, she was like an older sister to him, a common cover-up of his that he actually meant.

With a sigh, he backed away from the case and ran into the person behind him. He turned around to apologize, before seeing that it was a thin girl about his age wearing those tell-tale distinctive Prep clothes with that stupid moose insignia. How clothes with moose (mooses? meece?) on them ever became so popular was truly a mystery. Feeling a slight ache of fear and disgust, Zexion snarled down at her. She looked up with shock into his purple orbs, he into her emerald ones. They blinked and a look of surprise crossed their features.

"Zexion?!" she cried in a familiar tone.

"K-Keely?" the teen sputtered uncharacteristically, snarl gone.

"Hey! Fancy meeting you here, huh?" she chuckled nervously, straightening out her incredibly short pink terry cloth skirt out. She must have seen Zexion eyeing it skeptically, because she added, extending a leg, "Ya, I just wear the tight-things underneath." The violet tressed youth just nodded and pretended to understand – he had never understood how wearing a skirt and leggings ever became a trend either. That and those faux skin boots that were over spilling with fake fur and bound haphazardly with strings; which Keely was also wearing.

"So, uh… ah heh." She broke off into a giggle, clasping still lime green manicured hands together. "Sorry, I just thought you were someone else there for a moment. I mean, I know that – Xigbar was it? – has been taking you to Lowe's everyday and all, but still it seems like I should know you from somewhere."

"Probably just your imagination." Zexion shrugged off quickly, thoughts whirling. How could he have been so stupid?! Keely! Keely _Walters_. How could he have been so thick as to not see that it was her – one of the most popular girls at Northridge. _Just because she's not in her stupid moose getup while working… _He internally cursed. But she had gone out with John, and John was one of the jocks that… how can she not recognize me? I mean, she only picks on me _every day_. A disgusted feeling churned in the pit of his stomach, and he found himself looking away from her. _Why, why why?! Just because she doesn't wear as much make-up, just because she doesn't have to be like her friends when no one's looking, just because… GAH! Why didn't I see this before? God, I wish I could just disappear. Well technically, I can, but…_

Zexion paced forward a bit, peering into the next isle hopefully. If he could just get there before Keely, maybe he could use the portal to enter the realm of darkness. No such luck.

"Zexy? Whatcha lookin' at?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing." He lied quickly.

"Silly." She laughed. "Oh, I know! Ya know how you were talking about that class assignment a couple days ago that you liked? Well, I think I found something you might enjoy. Funny, I had the same assignment too, huh? Come on, I wanna show you!" she begged, tugging at his hoodie's sleeve.

_Of course you had the same assignment, you're in my class. I'm just invisible is all. Except for when I want to be. _He thought ruefully. "Um, I'm supposed to look for something, actually." He declined.

"Oh… well after that, then?" Keely asked.

"Uh… sure." _Great. She's intending on following me. And John's here… crap._

"Cool! So what do ya need to get?" She played with a curl of auburn hair thoughtfully, flipping it between her fingers.

"A tree topper." The purple tressed teen replied curtly.

"Oh, I see. Need a new one this year? My dad and I just got a new one last year; the old one was looking a bit frumpy. Mom always had wanted to get a new one anyways." She nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah." He agreed.

"Well, then I know a better place to find one than here. I bet you'd never look there for one either. Can you imagine, it's at Yankee Candle?"

"A candle company?" Zexion echoed.

"Yup! They carry a lot of stuff for all holidays, it's really cool. Come on, I'll show you!" she looped an arm through his and dragged him out of the store, a smile plastered to her face. In minutes, they had entered the crowded food court, and Keely stopped short. "Oh, no." she moaned.

"What is it?" Zexion looked around cautiously. It was so crowded on the weekends, especially during the holidays, that he couldn't detect a thing. Yet another reason to loathe mall trips.

"It's John." She smiled apologetically. "I broke up with him a couple weeks ago and he won't let me go. It's really getting annoying."

"Well, let's just pretend we didn't see him and keep on going." Zexion replied eagerly.

"Heeey baby!" a tall and lanky teen called. Too late… again.

"Hi John, what do you want?" Keely said tersely, cocking an eyebrow expectantly.

"Well, hey yourself." John replied sarcastically, smoothing his jet black hair with a hand. "I'm only here to see my girl." He smiled, attempting to slip an arm around her waist. She pushed it away with disgust and stepped back.

"John, how many times do I have to tell you this – WE'RE OVER! Get over yourself, good-bye!" the red head turned away angrily, grabbing for Zexion's arm.

"Hey, chica! Don't be like that! I mean af- who the hell is that?!" John spat, eyeing Zexion. The other teen glared at him defiantly with his one visible eye. "Well lookie here, boys." John called to his friends. "We got ourselves Emo Boy." Three other boys of the same age crowded around Keely and Zexion.

"Wh-what?!" Keely gasped, looking from face to face.

"You got me right, chica." The raven tressed boy announced. "It's our one and only Emo Boy. Gonna go cut yourself now?" he grinned sadistically at Zexion. "Or are you here to buy more knives? You know, if you're really desperate, you can always use a mechanical pencil, I know you have plenty of those." Violet orbs stared into hazel ones steadily. Zexion averted his gaze. Just great. Here comes another fight.

"Go on, Keely." He muttered darkly. "You know they're right."

"Z-Zexy… you don't mean… oh God… but I… I made fun of you, didn't I?!" the red head gasped in horrification.

"Only every day." The violet tressed youth rolled his eyes.

"Wait! Then you're the one who cut up John and the others, aren't you?" she continued, still in shock.

"That's right sweetheart." John cooed, moving towards her. "And to think that we actually _saw_ you two together. Good thing we were there to save you, huh?"

"Save me?" she repeated indignantly. "Hell no!" John looked taken aback. "You haven't saved me at all. Actually you won't leave me alone. You need to go back to your mommy, puppy, 'cause this chica is sending you out!"

"At least I have a mommy to go crying to!" he spat back. There was silence. Zexion winced, and caught a glance at Keely. She stood limply, staring with fury as tears welled up in her eyes.

"That was low, even for you." He growled irately.

"Low? You would know low, wouldn't you, scum?" the jock jeered.

"Leave him alone, jackass!" Keely belted out. "Zexion's nicer than any guy I ever met, and he is twice the man you could ever hope to be!" Violet orbs widened to the size of flying saucers as the Prep girl gingerly linked arms with him and steered them off out of the food court.

"So you're gonna go and be with that freak?!" John called after them angrily.

"So what! Maybe I am. At least he treats me with more respect than you ever did while we were going out!" Keely whirled around. People were staring now.

"What?! That's a load of crap and you know it! I bought you nice things all the time you ungrateful little b-"

"There's a lot more to a girl than just material things, you jerk! And if you couldn't see that from the first place, you should never have asked me out!"

"Maybe you should have never agreed!"

"Maybe you should get your priorities straight and not try to buy a girlfriend. Then again, it's worked for _Amber_ didn't it? I mean, she was your other girlfriend, right? No wonder we never got to spend time together, you were cheating on me the whole time! If all you want to do is mess around, then why even dare to try winning me back. As if you'd have a ghost of a chance after what you did to me!" John paled and stood agape, his friends all looking at each other in mingled shock and interest. A couple bystanders shouted their agreement, and a single guy booed, only to be whupped by a few girls standing nearby. But Keely and Zexion didn't see any of this because they were already down the walkway and heading into the next store, everyday problems evaporating into mere ghosts in their wake.

* * *

"I can't believe you just did that." The violet tressed teen shook his head. 

"Me neither." Keely trembled. "I-I didn't know I _could_ do that." They stood side by side in silence, browsing the shelves before them, but not really seeing what was there to be sold.

"Why?" Zexion asked simply, turning to her.

"Huh?" she looked up, brushing a stray tear away hurriedly.

"Why did you stand up for me? I mean, I know you didn't mean what you said about me back then, you probably just used me as an excuse, I know. But, uh… wasn't that a bit extravagant?" he explained, running his fingers through his bangs distractedly.

"Zexy…" Keely steadied her voice. "I didn't make that stuff up. This whole time I never knew who you were. No, actually… I learned who you were, not what everyone told me you were. I-I never gave you a chance, did I? I'm sorry for anything mean I've ever said to you… I'm sorry for a lot really. It's sad 'cause if it weren't for Xigbar bringing you back like that… I'd never have seen the real you." She smiled sadly. "I hope you can forgive me. I'll understand if you don't want to see me anymore. I mean I have been a… well, you know." She trailed off sheepishly. '_The real you'… if only she knew._ The teen thought bitterly, feeling a twinge of guilt. _And I've just walked into the trap I've spent my whole existence trying to avoid. Just bloody brilliant._

"Wait, what?" Zexion shook his head in confusion. "You're a Prep. It's in your nature to hate me. Now that you know who I am, you're not disgusted or anything? Y-you don't hate me?"

"Hate you! Zexy, I couldn't hate you, not now that I know you. I just said how sorry I am, didn't I?" Keely blinked.

"Ya, but…" Zexion looked into her emerald orbs, knowing that his eyes were betraying him and slowly filling with hope. "Would this just hurt your rep? I mean, I'm… nobody. I don't fit in anywhere, and your clique picks on me relentlessly. Wouldn't they shun you if they knew? Do you actually want to be my …" he blushed. "Uh, you want to be my friend?"

"Do you really think I'd have said all those things if I didn't really mean it?" she smiled, bending over so she could peer into his eyes. He looked up at her – her eyes held only truth.

"Thanks." He breathed, feeling a soft calmness wash over him. "Heh… I sound pathetic, don't I? I mean you've had tons of friends –"

"No." Keely disagreed instantly. "I've never had a true friend. I know this is probably hard for you to believe, and I don't blame you for it either, but I hate all those girls that I hang out with."

"So why do you hang out with them in the first place?" Zexion frowned.

"Because." The red head sighed, a look of defeat crossing her features. She sat down on the store's carpeted floor and motioned for Zexion to do the same. Once he did, she leaned in closer to him and said in soft tones, "You see, my mom died when I was only seven in a car crash. It was really hard on me and my dad for a while, and the pain has never truly gone away. Because of this, my dad had to raise me. He and my mom didn't have any siblings, so there wasn't anyone to help out. My dad never remarried either, so it's always just been he and I. There are just some things no matter how hard he tries – and trust me he has worked so hard – that he can never achieve. See, I grew up as a tomboy, and all the other girls shunned me because instead of dreaming about unicorns and flowers and make up and boys, I just wanted to wrestle or play catch with my dad or jump in mud puddles. And it was fine at first, but after I got into fifth grade, I started getting teased because I wasn't very feminine. I couldn't take much more of it, and all I wanted was to be accepted by somebody, anybody. So I changed myself until I became something I'm not, something my dad never wanted his little girl to become, Prep – cold, fake, and false. And I hate it, but now I'm stuck. Stuck in the world of imaginary light. And to think that people actually envy us?! How could you wish to be something that isn't even stable when they have so much more than us? I mean, none of us actually like each other, we're just tools to gain popularity. And what will that lead us to in life? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Once we get into the real world, we're nothing but waiters and chefs at Burger King. What a future. But… I can't help it now. I'm stuck. They're the closest things to friends I have. Everything in my world is so material, and I hate being afraid of them rejecting me because of those nonexistent friendships with them. I know a ton of people think I'm a ditz, but I really am smart! I just dumb myself down to what people want me to be… I'm just a loser. And now I've done the worst thing I could have ever done – I took my own pain and inflicted it on someone else."

"Look, if this is only out of pity –" Zexion began warily.

"No! Not at all! I just wanted you to know me, who I really am, because you have the right. And I really do want to be your friend. Even though I said all of those horrible things to you, it never made me feel any better, and mostly it was out of some twisted sort of jealousy. I admire you because you're not afraid to just be yourself. And I would do anything just to have that sort of freedom. I bet your friends are really great people too."

"Ya, she is." Zexion looked at her deeply.

"She? Huh?" Keely repeated curiously.

"Funny how too people from completely opposite ends of the spectrum can feel the same pain, huh? I'm glad you're my friend Keely. My first, true friend. My only friend. The only friend I've ever had." He swallowed.

"First…? You mean?!" Keely's eyes teared up again, and she suddenly crashed into him, wrapping her arms around him. He blinked in surprise and awkwardly placed an arm around her.

"Thank you Zexion." She sighed happily. "You're my first real friend too."

* * *

"Zexy!" Keely cried, bolting after her friend. The two had moved on to the next store – Yankee Candle as Keely had suggested – and were looking excitedly at the wares. Well, at least Keely was excited. It was always hard to tell when Zexion's mood changed. 

"What?" he asked with a sense of dread in his stomach. Sure, they had said they were friends, but Keely was still Keely. And Keely often had crazy ideas.

"Is that…?" she began, then broke off, turning from him and blushing. "Is that your _real_ hair color?"

"You've got to be kidding me." Zexion stared at her.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" Keely asked nervously.

"Tch." He shrugged her off, walking to the end of the aisle. "Naw, I dyed it. Used to be this dark brown color."

"Wow." Keely breathed. "I think it's cool!"

"Hmn. Thanks." Zexion replied disinterestedly.

"Why don't you dye it for Christmas?" Keely suggested brightly.

"What?" the purple haired teen replied, protectiveness growing for his precious hair. You wouldn't know it, but Zexion's hair was the one singular thing he treasured.

"Ya know, like green or red… or both!" the girl cheered. Zexion stared wordlessly through the bangs that veiled half his face at her with a look of disbelief. "Awww… come on Zexy! It'll be fun!" she cooed hopefully.

Suddenly, a small scene flashed in Zexion's mind's eye. There were two pastel colored unicorns and a white one. "We're going on an aadveeentuuurrre!" the two off-colored equestrian cried in unison. "Ya, Charlie! It'll be an aadveeentuuurrre!" Zexion blinked and looked into Keely's green orbs skeptically.

"Sorry, I don't feel like losing my kidney." He muttered in disturbance, stalking down the aisle and out of sight. Keely sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"He is so weird sometimes!" she huffed, before an evil smile played across her lips. "Oh well, I still have another eight days to convince him!"

"Don't get your hopes up." Zexion shook his head, with a slight chuckle. "After all –" he paused, hearing the chime of a cell phone go off. "Sorry, excuse me." He said, whipping out the little Motorola. It was probably another telemarketer, geez did he hate those guys! They spammed his cell phone like you wouldn't believe, always trying to force crap down his throat. Now what was really fun was to answer in a different language, where you could tell them anything you felt like saying. That was hilarious. Zexion's favorite was French, though it was almost more comical in Latin or German.

"Hello?" he answered cautiously. _I bet it's a telemarketer!_ "Oh, hi Axel." _Or not._

"Axel?" Keely voiced.

"Come again?" the teen frowned, stuffing a hand into his hoodie's pocket. "A ladder? That klutz. Ya, sorta. Which one? Saint Paul? Got it. I dunno." He sighed, scuffing a foot. "Maybe Xigbar. I'll try. Huh? Ya." He smirked. "Be there soon. Uh-huh, bye."

"What's goin' on, Zexy?" the auburn tressed girl inquired, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Zexion exhaled heavily, massaging his temples.

"Well, Larxene was putting something up or needed a ladder for some reason and missed a step and fell off. They don't know what's wrong with her, but she couldn't walk normally, so they think that she broke her leg or her foot. Axel took her to the hospital – you, know, Saint Paul? He'd have come and picked me up and taken me there, but the doctors needed him there to verify things. Larxene's never been omitted to the hospital before, so they needed her records and medical history. The others can give me a ride seeing as they're all coming over to see her too."

"I can take you." Keely offered. "My car's nearby."

"Well…"

"Please? I mean, what are friends for, right?" Zexion looked into her eyes, his own brimming with a mixture of emotions.

"Thanks, Keely."

* * *

"Thanks for the ride." The teen called. 

"Ride?" the girl replied indignantly. "Hell naw, I wanna meet your family."

"M-my family?" Zexion stammered, his heart racing.

"Ya, sure, why not? You talk about them enough." Keely shrugged.

"I've only mentioned a few." The teen corrected.

"Oh, well, the more the merrier, right?"

"I guess it couldn't hurt for you to meet Larxene or Axel." The violet tressed youth caved in, a sense of apprehension crawling under his skin. The two entered the giant glass double doors and approached the front counter. After a short conversation with the secretary there, they were directed to the third floor.

"Hey, Zexy! Aren't we gonna check in here too? We don't know her room yet!" the auburn haired girl called, running after her friend.

"We don't need to." Was his curt reply.

"Huh? Oh, Axel told you?"

"No. But it's always the same." Solemnly, he led her around the corner until they had arrived at ward thirteen. It was always ward thirteen; Xemnas would have it no other way, the arrogant bastard. He stood in the doorway, and in seconds, fiery red hair appeared beyond. Axel grinned a fanged smile.

"Oh, hey! There you are Zex –" he stopped short, grin fading away. He darted glances at the members around him, trying to cover up for his younger friend. Zexion stood before Keely and slowly entered the room. Larxene sat in her bed, already dressed down for her surgery, the others clustered around her. The Superior turned casually to the sixth member, his eyes growing with sudden anger.

"Number Six! What is the meaning of this!" he hissed dangerously, eyes narrowed. Saïx growled, baring his unnaturally sharp canines.

"Who is she?" he spat. "We thought you'd be coming alone." Keely whimpered at his accusation and placed a hand on Zexion's shoulder, shielding herself from the others.

"Baka no kodomo!" the silver tressed man swore. "You should've known that we wouldn't be wearing glasses."

"Not like it matters much to me." Xigbar drawled, pointing to his eye patch. "I've only got one anyways, and people think the other is defective or something."

"Urusai!" Saïx commanded, although he in fact was lower in status to Xigbar. "Have you not realized that is unnatural to have amber eyes, or are you truly that thick?"

"Have you not noticed that nobody else has cornflower blue hair?" the free shooter challenged.

"Is if that's not already bad enough –" the Lunar Divider turned his attention back to Zexion and Keely. "You've brought us a _human_." He said with disgust.

"Human?" Keely squeaked, ducking behind her new friend in fear. "Z-Zexy, what are they talking about?" The teen didn't answer her; only put his hand on her leg comfortingly.

"Come here, little girl." Xemnas whispered, staring into her emerald orbs intensely.

"O-okay." The red head stammered.

"NO!" Zexion screamed, standing before her protectively. "Keely hasn't done anything, she wouldn't tell anybody."

"She knows?!" Vexen hissed from the corner.

"No… but it's not like any of you are hiding anything now." The teen scorned.

"True." Xemnas nodded. "She's seen too much, I think."

"Zexion –" Keely shook his shoulder. "I don't want to cause a rift in your family. I don't want to be a burden. Whatever it is you're hiding, I swear I'll keep. I don't want to hurt anybody." Keely stood trembling before the Superior and seventh member.

"Oh no, you see that's the problem. You'll hurt _Nobody_." Saïx said maliciously.

"And you won't be the one doing the hurting." Xemnas added. Simultaneously, the two summoned their weapons which materialized within seconds, tendrils of darkness quickly evaporating into the room. Keely shrieked in surprise and stumbled backyards, narrowly avoiding one of Xemnas' scarlet lasers. Zexion quickly reached for her, grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her behind him to safety. Gasping, she looked up in disbelief to see her protector standing in a fighting stance with his fights raised, Axel by his side, chakrams spinning betwixt his fingers. Across the room, Xigbar was still reclined against the wall, but a single ray gun was aimed at her two attackers.

"So Saïx," the redhead smirked. "Want another pretty scar to go along with that one?" Keely's eyes darted back to the seventh member's face, examining the X-shaped scar across his face. She let her gaze fall to the spinning weapons in Axel's hands, and in seconds, she understood. Two heavy objects held in either hand – swing them forward and let the arms follow the path of gravity naturally. While at first thought, where the objects and your arms just go straight, gravity disagrees. Instead, the weight of the objects in motion ends up drawing your arms together into an X sort of formation, one object generally striking before the other. Now imagine two chakrams and Saïx's face.

"Zexion." Axel muttered, a sadistic smile cracking on his lips. "Take the chic and run."

"I'm not gonna wimp out on a fight, they almost killed her!" the teen argued.

"Go, NOW!"

"But –"

"NOW!" Fire swirled over the heating metal weapons. The violet tressed youth nodded resolutely, and grabbed Keely's hand and dashed out of the crowded room. "Sound check!" Axel yelled after them. Zexion skidded to a halt and rushed to ward thirteen's door, slamming it shut and slapping a piece of paper on it. The air cackled with static, and the paper burned away into charred embers.

"By George, what was that?!" a nurse cried, hurrying over to the now silent room.

"Sorry, they got carried away with the TV volume." Zexion lied. Keely stood in shock, still trembling, and the two rushed down the sterile halls.

* * *

Keely closed the heavy glass door behind them, panting heavily. Zexion stalked along the balcony and rested his arms on the railing, observing below. They were in the very center of the hospital on the only floor that had a balcony. The heart of the building was cut into a square with glass panes leading up the sides to see into each floor. There was no roofing here, only metal crossbeams that bared the ever changing sky. The opposing wall was covered in gray slated stone, rivulets of water trickling down them therapeutically. Down on the ground were a few planted trees, still leafy and green despite their surroundings and two pyramid shaped roofs that reared out of the cement that were in fact sky lights for the cafeteria. 

"Look, Zexy, I'm sorry." Keely sighed, sitting down at a small table remorsefully.

"Don't be." He mumbled.

"After mom died… I realized just how much family means. I don't mean to hurt your family. I'll go if you want me to. I-I don't know what just happened exactly, but whatever it is, I won't tell anyone. Sorry I angered your dad and … uncle?"

"Xemnas and Saïx." Zexion corrected, looking over his shoulder at her. "And they have no relation to me whatsoever. Don't you dare say that you're sorry – there is nothing to apologize for. If anything… I'm sorry Keely." He sighed dejectedly. "I should have never… I knew better than this. I…" he broke off in an angry howl, kicking the railing. When he turned to finally face her, he wiped angrily at a tear that had rolled down his cheek. The girl gasped, and jumped up to comfort him.

"I know it isn't any of my business, but –"

"No, Keely. It is your business now. And it's all my fault." He chocked out, sitting heavily in the other chair. "I was afraid of this from the beginning. I should never have let you come over here, it's too dangerous. But I thought – hmn, I really need to just start from the beginning, don't I?" he waited until she got comfortable and started. "Do you know what a Heartless is, Keely?"

"Ya! Those things are so creepy, always lurking around in the shadows. Scares the hell out me whenever I see one." Zexion winced.

"When a Heartless is born – when a person loses their heart – not all of them goes into creating a Heartless. The stronger the heart, the stronger the Heartless. Well the rest that's left over becomes something new. These beings are called 'Nobodies'. Keely –" he bit his lip worriedly, gulped, and went on. "I am a Nobody."

"What?!" she gasped, covering her mouth with a hand. "I-I'm not sure I understand."

"I'm a Nobody, and the people I live with have no relation to me. We are all Nobodies, and in that sense, we are also all orphans. Xemnas, or the Superior as we are to call him, took each of us in. If it weren't for him… we wouldn't have a home. I mean, if anyone found out…" he looked into her wide emerald orbs pleadingly. "Nobodies are nothing. We have no hearts, and only a husk of a form. When we die, we fade away into nothingness, and nothing is all we feel. At least, that is what we have been told. I could fit in at school, but I chose not to. Because I've been afraid of being discovered. Because I don't want to have friends that I could end up hurting. I've stayed away for their safety. Because anyone that finds out is a liability, and they can only meet death. We'd all be split up and sent to laboratories, to be experimented on, and sheltered away like some sort of disease. Our lives are hollow enough; we really don't need anymore mayhem. You'll have to excuse Xemnas and Saïx… they just tried to kill you, and they would've too, but you've got to forgive them. They were caught off guard, I should have known better than that. All Xemnas has ever tried to do was to help and protect us, and he saw you as a threat. Humans in general are a threat. That's why… that's why he's been planning war against them."

"Why?!" Keely exclaimed. "What have we ever done to them?"

"You all have the one thing we yearn for – hearts." He whispered sadly. "Not all of us feel this way. Only Xemnas, Saïx, Vexen, and… and I."

"No." the auburn tressed girl shook her head disbelievingly. "Zexy, no! Please!"

"If I help them, I can have a heart. I can be normal and I won't have to worry anymore, I won't have to hide. I can finally, finally be free. And most importantly…" Zexion looked back at her, eyes filling with unshed tears. "I won't have to be afraid to love. I've stayed away because I'm afraid of feeling love. If I were to be with anyone, she would have the right to know about me… about all of us. And even if she stayed through that, it wouldn't be fair to her, because I could never give her my heart and soul as much as I would wish, because I lack one, because I'm missing. I could never put anyone through that."

"The only way to love is to have a heart, right?" she prodded.

"I don't know." He shook his head. "When can you see the line between what is and what you want to be?" They sat in silence a moment. "I remember things that I shouldn't, things that the others can't exactly remember. I remember my other. Aside from being a Nobody, I'm different from the other guys. I'm… I'm still not human. Neither was Ienzo."

"Ienzo?"

"My other. If you anagram his name with an 'x', you get mine. That is how it is in our organization – that is, the others I live with. There are thirteen of us in all, and we have entitled ourselves 'Organization XIII'. The first six of us – myself being number six – used to work as apprentices to the great scientist and theologist, Ansem the Wise. Ienzo came to them after losing his parents."

"Both of them?" Keely asked in horrification.

"Yes." Zexion nodded. "They were killed. Ienzo… and I… are hanyou. Our other half is kitsune, kuro kitsune to be precise. Remember when John and his friends tried to jump me?"

"That time they all came back cut up?" she recalled, things starting to come together in her mind.

"I couldn't handle myself anymore. All those stories… aren't just stories. I let my youkai half take over, and I attacked them. That's why they could never find a weapon. Because I used my claws. This is merely my human appearance. In truth, I have claws and fangs, and canine ears, and even a tail. I can use illusions, transform things, and as you saw back there, create barriers and wards." He admitted ashamedly, bowing his head. "It's disgusting really. I have a hard enough time coping with the fact that deep down, I am nothing, and then I have to have more problems! I… I amount to nothing, and I know this, but I just wish I could be more human. I don't want to be a hanyou, I hate it. It just separates me that much more from everyone else, alienates me. At least the others can live a fairly normal life. Hell, Axel and Xigbar, and even Demyx live as though they are no different from anyone else! I envy that. And even though we aren't the closest group, and are united only because we share a common bond, we're the only family we have. And I have to do the best I can to help them, because they've done so much for me. I'd never admit any of this to them, but I just thought… I really wanted you to know, Keely. I'm sure by now I've scared you, so I'll let you go. I just hope that you won't say anything, but there really isn't anything I can do to stop you, I won't even try."

"Zexion?" Keely said seriously, leaving her chair and kneeling before him. "Never loose sight of what you hold dear. Family means more to me than anything, now that I've lost so much of it. I can't even begin to imagine how it has affected you. And I know just judging by how things go for you at school, your only connection to the outside world, it seems, that they are truly all you have. Even still, don't let that stop you from doing as you wish. Don't let them hold you back."

"The only one holding me back is myself." He argued quietly. "And I do it for my best interest, irregardless of what my heart would have told me."

"There is nothing wrong with you." Keely smiled encouragingly. "You are no different deep down where it counts. And I fail to believe that you lack a heart – do not our truest, deepest feelings, memories, and emotions come from there? You are the nicest, kindest, most thoughtful person I have ever met, Zexion. You just need to find your heart; you just lost sight of it."

"That still cannot hide the painfully obvious fact that I would only hurt those I try to be near to."

"Then you shouldn't feel loss of any friend that can't see passed all of that to who you really are. They wouldn't be a true friend, then, would they?"

"No, they would hate me for being different. I don't have to do anything to be hated, I simply am. Things that don't belong stick out, and are feared. To wash away the fear, they are taken to be broken down, forced to conform. And whether they do or not, they are hated, especially if they refuse to. This will never change." Another few minutes blew passed. Keely rose to her knees, still sitting before Zexion.

"That's too bad." She said slowly, drawing her gaze up to meet his. "I really hoped that you wouldn't let others affect you, that so long as you stay yourself no-one could touch you. And what they would say wouldn't matter, because it is only what they choose to say, to hide their own insecurities. I thought that you'd see … I…" she blinked, her eyes flickering quickly. "I…" she breathed. Her nose came inches from the tip of his own. Ignoring the flush rising in her cheeks, or her own quickly palpitating heart, she leaned in and felt the warm satisfaction of his lips pressed against hers. She stroked his cheek with a hand gently, and broke from him sadly. Her nose nuzzled against his, and she dropped her hand, lowering herself back down beneath him. "I really like you, Zexion." The violet tressed teen watched in shock as she gathered herself neatly and rose, gliding over to the door. She paused when she reached the door, a hand hovering just over the handle. She thought for a moment, and called softly over her shoulder,"Even if your family does hate me, I don't hate them… and I definitely don't hate you. It doesn't matter to me that you're not human, so long as you're the Zexion I know – the Zexion I've come to love."

"Keely." She heard her name being called in a gentle, raspy tone. Turning, she saw Zexion standing behind her, staring after her longingly. "Keely." He repeated, stepping forward, drawing close to her. "Don't go. Please don't go. I don't want to be alone again." As if in a dream, he wrapped an arm around her waist and cupped her head in his hand, tilting it back slightly as he kissed her. "Keely." He breathed, pressing his forehead against hers. "I think I'm falling in love with you."

"But you'd need a heart for that, wouldn't you?" she posed lightly.

"Hmn. Maybe I did have one, but I think you've stolen it." He grinned, leaning back in for another kiss.

* * *

Looks like they're more than just friends, ne? Heheheh -evol laughter- I HAD to write something that was a cross between squishy and angsty for Zexy's chapter! A bit more intense and not as humorous, nut hey, like I said before, I'm changing (or at least trying to) the writing style per chapter to fit each character. If nothing else, you could call this chapter plot and character development! Hooray! Tell me whatcha think please, I wanna know if I scared all ya'll off... I really hope I didn't. 


	7. Saixy?

A/N: O.M.G! Thanks to all you wonderful people, this fic has recieved over 1,000 hits! I never in my wildest dreams thought that would be possible for me to achieve. I also recieved more reviews! Annonymous, to answer your question - Uh... Axel and Saix got into a fight over... beer? I dunno, I just came across the physics of the chakrams (because I'm weird like that) and thought, "HOLY COW! They make a n X!" XD!!! Thanks, TheSuperGirlOfDreams, for giving me support in my OC, Keely. I'm glad you feel that she has actual relevance, it's always concerning when writing one for that reason. Even though I've only seen a few episodes of "Phil of the Future" to know the characters names, my Keely _does_ sort of act like their Keely. Must be something with the name. I actually found the name in a fanfiction called "Kadaj: Emo Chronicles" which is really, really good, and thought that the name was perfect. What's weird is that in hadn't read the sequel until after my outlining of Keely was done, and both Keely's look the same - green eyes, auburn hair. Weird. Very, very weird. Again, it must be with the name. Reading Chick, once again you've corrected me! Geez, I really _am_ stupid... oh crap... was that even grammatically correct? Ya... LOL Thanks for the excellent review, chica, I love you! -squees- And thanks to everyone; Muk master, dark672, animeroxz, oChaoticDarlingo (), TheSuperGirlOfDreams, Reading Chick, and Annonymous. I did this chapter somewhat hurriedly, so I hope that it's not too craptacular. Next one's Axel, so it should be a whole heck of a lot better! Enjoy!

_**13 Days of Christmas**_

_By: SilverIceWolf_

_Day 7: Saïx-y?_

'_On the seventh day of Christmas,_

_My Kingdom gave to me,_

_Seven Saïx a-snarling,_

_Six emo's angsting,_

_Five tomahawks,_

_Four scientists,_

_Three sideburns,_

_Two purple guns,_

_And a Zemmy who hates squee!'_

By now, the whole castle was abuzz with activity. Just the day before, Zexion had shown up at the hospital with that human girl. And he and the Superior had tried to attack her. Saïx would be lying to say that he would have hesitated to take the girl's life, and he would feel no sorrow or sympathy, and definitely no guilt. He would however, have been stuck with the problem of disposing the body, as morbid as it was. He was very nervous with having her stay a living liability, but it was worth not splitting Organization XIII up. It was now painfully obvious that Zexion was no longer aiding the smaller division in their secret attack versus the human world.

Saïx sighed and reclined back, resting his head against his bedroom wall. It was black. Saïx loved black. But the other walls were an icy shade of blue to avoid closterphobia. That was a problem the seventh member had. He blamed it on his canine side, the yearning he always felt for some sense of freedom. The rush of adrenaline to do something forbidden – which was probably why he had agreed to join the Superior and Vexen's plan in the first place. Seeing as though it made a great excuse to fight. Sparing with the others was never enough. There was no way to feel the victorious and primitive feeling of the kill. But then again, that was all due to the fact his other was a werewolf.

Truth be told, Saïx was a rather placid person. Placid, that is, until something angered him or caught him off guard and have anger evoked, that his temperament change. And at that point, he became a ruthless, cold blooded killer. It was also this side of him that caused any and all guilt to evaporate like mist, which wasn't always a bad thing. Then again, it also made giving a "heart felt apology" ten times harder.

_Vexen must be down in the lab again. _Saïx thought, fidgeting. It wasn't like he actually cared. In the beginning, when the first of the members had united to become a strange sort of family unit, each member had their own room. By the time there was the full thirteen, some changes were in order. Although there were at least fifty rooms within the castle, there were a relatively small number of bedrooms. So they had taken to living in a dorm-room style, with the exception of Xemnas, of course, seeing as was the one kind enough to support them all. Axel and Demyx decided immediately to be roommates, which was unexpected seeing as how Axel was prone to get along easier with Xigbar or Roxas – both of whom shared a room. Larxene and Marluxia were an obvious match, and not a soul was about to object. The two were technically both girls anyway – even though Marly was bisexual, he was more in touch with his feminine side, so everyone assumed he was really gay and failing to hide it. Zexion roomed with Luxord out of lack of companions. Even though Luxord was a drunk, he was agreeable, and the violet tressed teen admitted on more than one account that it was fun to mess with the blonde's head at such times, which were exceedingly frequent. And that left only Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, and himself. Numbers three and four didn't get along at all, so rooming up was out of the question. Lexaeus was a mystery to everyone, but Saïx was not about to take a gamble with anything. He preferred to be alone, and spent much of his time in his room. Apparently, Lexaeus was the same. So in the end, the Lunar Divider dormed with Vexen, which suited him just fine seeing as the crazy scientist spent all day and night in that musty old laboratory of his. This also allowed Saïx to decorate the bedroom in whatever way he wished.

Vexen's bed had been pushed to the opposite end of the room, in the corner, and was almost always made. Generally it was used to pile random crap upon, seeing as it was rarely ever used in the first place. A wide glass paneled door lay between the two mattresses that led out to a nice balcony that looked out to where the moon shone. Every night, Saïx would come out with a cup of coffee and sit in the radiance of the pale light for a few precious hours, before turning in for bed. If he had it his way, he'd have become nocturnal long ago, but that would be impossible when you live with twelve other people. Back inside, the seventh member had pushed his rather plump and fluffy bed barely four feet away from the closet, which had a handsome folding wood door. Beside the closet was a small table atop which was an elaborate vase with stylized images of wolves running amidst a field of hiragana. An arrangement of morning flowers, iris', and baby's breath spilled over the vase's rim, casting an appeasing scent to waft through the room. There were also a few posters decorating the walls, each framed neatly in black casing. The first featured Kiba from Wolf's Rain as both his wolf and human form, the second the four main wolves, and the third and center poster was in black with a widescreen shot of Kiba's wolf eyes, with the logo in crimson above it so it looked like blood. At the foot of his bed was a low bench, and beyond that was the computer station where his laptop sat amid a pile of documents. To the right of this (towards the door) was the plasma TV, separated from the computer by another poster. This one was a print he had bought online that happened to catch his attention. The art featured a silvery white wolf lying down with it's paws crossed, a single amber eye half-open. Beside it was an oversized ladybug on a field of green. But the most striking thing about the picture was the fleshy pink jagged X-shaped scar across the wolf's brow.

There was something so haunting about that print that had compelled Saïx to purchase it. Like a kinship of sorts. Often times he found himself staring into it's singular eye, pondering what it might be thinking. His fingers fiddled some more, stroking a piece of fluffy terry cloth. And that cloth covered a pink stuffed rabbit. Saïx didn't know how the thing ever came into his room; it just simply appeared one day. At least he refrained from naming it, like Demyx had, or call it a "bunny". Setting Mr. Fuzzypants on his pillow, Saïx stretched out in a wolfish way and strode over to the door.

The air buzzed with a sudden static, and soon Axel's voice broke over the PA system. "Wakey, wakey, Fluffy!" he called, referring to his favorite pet name for the seventh member. "Superior says we can't have breakfast without you, and I'm starving! Besides for that, I think Vexen's gonna eat Demyx alive if he doesn't stop complaining. So you'd better get your fluffy ass down here before I burninate y- Oh, heh heh hey your Superiorness!" he chuckled nervously. Saïx shook his head exasperatedly as the PA system was clicked off and made his way through the winding passageways down to the kitchen.

Axel and Xigbar had a stern talking to the previous night for making attempts to attack himself and Xemnas. But in the end, they got off easy, and then it was Zexion's turn. Saïx was actually impressed with the kid's boldness and readiness to accept any punishment for his actions. Sure, he was abnormally stoic and sarcastic, but he was very loyal and responsible too. After a heated argument, it was agreed that Zexion would no longer be a part of the smaller division of Organization XIII, and would divulge nothing. Keely was permitted to be his girlfriend, much to the teen's ecstasy, and was allowed to visit the castle whenever she wished. She, however, was bound to secrecy herself, which she willingly obliged. There still was, understandably, a tension between Zexion, Axel, Xigbar, and himself and the Superior, but things were beginning to fall back into place.

"Oh! Saikusu, desu!" Marluxia called from the table, waving him over. The lupine member flipped his hair over his shoulder, rolling his eyes. He went to take his seat, shoving Vexen out of the way.

"Go sit down, Number Four." He ordered wearily. He may only been the seventh member, but as far as status went, everyone was quite clear that he was second only to Xemnas. Demyx took one look at his neighbor and shut up, sinking down into his chair with a slight, "Meep!" The air at the head of the table rent open, revealing the Superior dragging Axel along by the scruff of his neck.

"Sit." He growled, pushing the pyro forward.

"Jeez, I get it already. Don't play with the loudspeaker, I got it memorized!" Axel whined, hiding the snicker in his voice.

"You seriously need to grow up." Saïx commented dryly.

"You need to lighten up." The redhead countered, ruffling Zexion's messy hair before taking his seat beside him. "Like Demyx, for instance."

"Dear God in heaven no."

"HEY!" the water user complained, pouting. "Wazzat supposed to mean?"

"It means he would die before ever becoming anything like you." Zexion smirked.

"Oh." The blonde nodded. "But wasn't he kinda like me that one time we slipped a Vikod–"

"Shut up, desu!" Marluxia cried, cheeks tinting in indignation as he muffled the rest of Demyx's words. Saïx looked around the table suspiciously.

"Maybe it would be better not to ask." He sighed resignedly.

"Hey, has anyone checked the mail yet?" Xigbar perked up.

"Why, are you expecting something?" Zexion frowned.

"Well, uh, ya… kinda." The free shooter sent the teen a meaningful glance.

"Huh? Oh! That…" he snickered, trading bemused looks with Lexaeus.

"I don't know what the hell's goin' on, but it would probably be a good idear to see if we have gotten anything." Luxord mumbled over his drink which was more than likely alcoholic.

"And it should be done soon, 'cause there's supposed to be an ice storm later." Roxas glared at the fourth member, who merely shrugged.

"Xaldin?" the Superior said expectantly, not looking up from his bacon and toast.

"Wha-? Oh, fine!" he stormed. "Goddamnit! Why can't we have those stupid pigeons like in Harry Potter?"

"They're owls, Xaldy." Axel reminded him.

"What are you now, an ornithiphile?!" the man spat irately, braids whipping around his face.

"I _roast_ birds." Axel grinned devilishly.

"Aw… that's not very nice Axelly!" Demyx cried.

"Huh?! I-I don't mean it literally! Like, uh… food! Chicken! You love Chick-fil-A, don't you? That's chicken… bird… stuff." The redhead said hurriedly. It was cute how he always rushed to make sure that Demyx was happy. Probably for more than one reason too. First off, Demyx was prone to cry, which wasn't good, because he wielded water. Not pretty to have a tsunami after you. Second, angsty-emo Demmy is just creepy. And thirdly, the blonde was like a slightly younger and less mature brother to Axel, and even if he wouldn't admit it, Demyx always had a way of making him smile.

"I've got the frikken' mail." Xaldin slapped the envelopes down on the table with a sound WHUMP! "Nothing for the Superior." He announced, flipping through the mail. "Xigbar's got the next issues of 'Guns and Hunting', 'Big Game Adventures', and 'Guns and Ammo'. Yes! I've received another 'Martha Stewart Home Living'!" he looked up and the other's skeptic looks. "What? Anyways… I don't know what this is, Vexen, but it better not be anthrax!" he warned, tossing a packet to the fourth member. "Huh, I guess this is Larxene's 'Soap Digest', we'd better be sure to take it to her. Huh, Zexion you've already gotten a Christmas card from your girlfriend." The teen blushed pleasantly and took the card from the chef. "Uh, lessee, what else? Saïx, your preorder for 'Ookami' has been affirmed, Axel, you've got… uh, um… this." He blinked, staring at the eighth member strangely.

"What?" the redhead frowned. "I wasn't expecting anything." Cocking his head to the side, he received the envelope. "Enrique's Academy of Latin Dance? WHAT THE HELL?!" he exclaimed, eye twitch and everything. "Okay, not funny. Who did it?" he glowered at the other twelve members. Then he spotted the guilty faces of numbers two, five, and thirteen. "You!" he snarled, suddenly surrounding by flaming motes.

"Hoshit!" Xigbar cried, flipping up to the ceiling. "Come on, Axe-man! Ya know we were just joking around with ya!"

"Told you, we'd be dead!" Roxas complained, bouncing on the balls of his feet anxiously, Oathkeeper in one hand. Lexaeus randomly gasped.

"What do you have to say, macho man?!" Axel challenged, trying to figure out a way to hit Xigbar before his shot was reflected back to him.

"I can't think of an analogy for this situation!" the brunette cried, wide eyed.

"What?" the redhead shook his head. "Ow! Xigbar, you jerk! That hurt!" he complained, rubbing his side.

"So you're not really that mad?" the elder member queried, standing a fair distance away from his friend, but now on the ground.

"Naw." Axel relaxed, dispelling the flames. "It kinda sounds fun, really." He blushed; face growing near as bright as his hair.

"I never really knew that she could dance like this, She makes a man wants to speak Spanish, Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa, Shakira, Shakira!" Roxas sang freely, skipping around, swinging the pallid Keyblade. In the appropriate places, Xigbar would cheer, "Si!"

"Okay, now that does it!" Axel snarled playfully, chasing after his best friends.

"Did he just sing 'Come my llama'?" Demyx quipped, scratching his head.

"No, he said, 'As it is called'." Zexion corrected with a chuckle. "But you _do_ spell the word like the animal llama."

"That'll be enough, _children_." Xemnas drawled, still not looking up from his meal. Poor man was used to it already.

"Ya! Peace and love, desu!" Marluxia added.

"Awww, fine your Superiorness." Axel pouted, resuming his seat at the table opposite Demyx. Zexion chocked back a laugh. "What is it, emo boy?" the redhead cocked an eyebrow. He was the only one that could get away with calling him that. Well, maybe Keely too, but she'd never tried.

"Hmn, just thinking about something Keely was saying yesterday." The teen mused. "She thought the Superior was my father, and Saïx my uncle." He fought to keep the grin off his face. Silverware around the table clattered down harshly.

"She did not." The lupine member whispered menacingly. "I'll kill her." Xemnas blinked stupidly and allowed himself to smack his forehead audibly with the heel of his palm.

"Never in a million years…" he shook his silver tresses disbelievingly.

"So what did she think the rest of us are to you?" Demyx asked.

"Not sure, really. Probably thought that Axel and Xigbar were brothers of sorts to me, seeing how they stood up for me. I know she thought Larxene was my sister though, after all, I had kinda led her to believe that. Don't care, really. I sort of see her that way anyways." He admitted sheepishly.

"And speaking of Larxene – who wants to go see her today?" Xaldin posed. "I figured we all would, but not at the same time. I phoned her room earlier and she sounded pretty doped up. Her surgery went along fine; she'll just be inactive for a bit with a broken leg."

"How long is a bit?" Xemnas asked suspiciously.

"Give or take two or three months." The chef shrugged.

"REALLY?!" the Superior perked up.

"Hmn, you're horrible, Superior-san." Saïx jested lightly, picking at his food with a fork. "But I definitely agree with you."

"Ya, with Larxy-parxy-poo gone, we won't have to do anything!" Xigbar bounced up and down excitedly.

"Eh, heh heh. Not exactly, desu." Marluxia piped up, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "Larxy-chan gave me a list of things to be done in her stead. I kinda think she wants 'em all done by the time she comes back… like, tomorrow." He drew a list from his pants pocket, avoiding the numerous "sweat drop" expressions around him. "She never said who had to do what, not exactly. But it seems pretty obvious to me. But here it goes: 1. Bake cookies/pie, 2. Buy floor mats and towels for the kitchen fit for Christmas, 3. Buy tablecloths, napkins, and formal dining sets complete with chargers, 4. Clean windows and mirrors, 5. Finish painting, 6. Make nail appoint – uh, whoops, never mind, 7. Fill medications at Rite Aid, 8. Buy tree skirt, 9. Pick up the tree topper Zexion put on hold, 10. Buy more ornaments, 11. Decorate the tree, 12. Figure out Christmas dinner, 13. Figure out some sort of guest list." He looked up at the others.

"What does she mean by 'guest list'? We don't have any friends!" Xemnas blinked.

"Except for _Zexy_ here," Xigbar teased. "But they're not exactly friends, huh?"

"Shut up." The teen blushed.

"Okie, dokie then!" Marluxia squeed. "Xaldy can take care of cooking and figuring out dinner, Vexie can clean the windows and mirror, Lexy can finish the painting around here, Zexy can buy the floor mats and towels and dishes and other kitchen stuff and fill the prescriptions, and Saïx, you can take care of all the tree stuff like picking up the topper, buying the ornaments and skirt, and decorating it. I'll take care of the other thing and write out a guest list! Divide and conquer!" he cheered, clapping his hands together cheerfully.

"How come Saïx doesn't get a cutsie nickname?" Vexen grumbled.

"Because, desu!" the sakura tressed man explained. "You can't turn his name into something that ends with an "e" sounding ending without it sounding to broken up. I mean, what do ya want me to call him, Saïx-y?" Axel muttered something inaudible under his breath that only Zexion caught.

"Why do I have to take care of all this?" the claymore wielder asked.

"'Cause, desu. You've been victimized one by one in numerical order so far. So it makes sense that your time is now." He nodded seriously, eyes wide and shiny.

"… Right… I'll be going then."

* * *

"I suppose I'll just start here," the blue tressed man told himself, hitting the "lock" button on his key fob. The icy blue Volvo chirped in acknowledgement, the hood automatically sliding up to snap into the top of the windshield. It was a particularly bitter day, but Saïx didn't mind. In fact, being a werewolf as he was, he delighted in the colder weather and was eagerly anticipating the coming storm, which if still on course, would be arriving by the next day. Like Zexion, Saïx hated the mall with a passion. For one, it was always too crowded, especially now with the holiday. There were far too many scents there, and they all collided to form an absolutely putrid smell that he was sure would give anyone a migraine. But then again, he wasn't like everyone.

Now where had that kid found the tree topper? Barnes and Fitch? Brookmark? Yankee Eagle? Limited Candle? Oh, yes, that was it! Yankee Candle. With any luck, they'd have the other things that Marluxia, or rather, Larxene, requested of him. Like a tree skirt. Just what exactly was a tree skirt, and why wasn't there tree pants? Did trees even have genders? Luckily, Saïx was at the correct end of the mall, at least according to the directory. In a few short minutes, he had located the store and approached the counter.

"Hi! My name is Tiffany! How may I help you?" an overly-peppy blonde quipped.

"I'm here to pick up something that was put on hold." He replied, shaking the disturbance from his tone.

"Sure thang! Whatcha put it under?" she asked, twirling a lock of frizzy hair around her forefinger.

"Uh, um…" even through his precautionary sunglasses, he could see the flickering of a hundred candles. Besides for that, he could smell them. What the hell was wrong with Zexion?! The kid's sense of scent was stronger than his own, and he was already getting dizzy. "Um… Zexion." He answered finally.

"Zexion?" Tiffany frowned. "Kinda a funny name, huh?" There was no response. "Um, ya, we don't have any Zexion's in our database."

"Did you spell it right?" the seventh member asked sarcastically.

"I dunno." The blonde shrugged. "How are you supposed to spell it?"

"Z-e-x-i-o-n." he answered.

"Oooh! So _that's_ Zexion! See, I thought it was said like 'Zeeksheone'!" she giggled airily.

"_Zeeksheone_?" Saïx blinked. "I think it's time for you to shut up now and let me pay for that item."

"Fine." She drew back disgustedly, pushing the tree topper towards him in offense. "That'll be $23.99, thanks." Saïx swiped his credit card and entered his pin as quickly as he could and withdrew to the other side of the store to examine his purchase. He had to say, Zexion did have refined taste, but there was one major thing that he couldn't help but smile at. The tree topper was of an angel in porcelain and fabric. She don a silken white dress with scarlet and emerald wrappings and shawls, with flaxen accents. Pearly white wings tipped with gold folded behind her back neatly, and in either hand she held an elaborate trumpet with braided tassels and a small crucifix. But the most interesting thing was Zexion's choice of appearance – auburn-red tresses framed a pale face out of which peered shining green orbs – nearly identical to Keely.

"Tree skirt, tree skirt, tree skirt." The claymore wielder muttered under his breath. "What the hell's a tree skirt?" He had progressed to Hallmark, figuring by the products displayed in the windows that he might find what he needed there. "Tree skirt, tree skirt… oh! So _that's_ a tree skirt." He thought, picking up a package from the rack. It was folded and encased with plastic, a diagram shown at the top, depicting a wide circle fanning out around the base of the tree. This particular skirt was plaid, but in gaudy colors. Setting it aside, Saïx reached for the next one. This one had particular dimensions for best fit, but not knowing what size to get, he decided to get one that had a "one size fits all" just to say on the safe side. Which eliminated half the selection. By then, he was down to four different patterns. The first was ridiculously incandescent and had interwoven holly boughs at the hem. The second had old fashioned print of toys like teddy bears, stockings, and rocking horses on a background of dark cream. Next was one that had cardinals and blue jays holding crimson banners in their beaks saying things like "Peace", "Joy", or "Hope" in gold leaf cursive. The last was very exquisite, with soft, short red fur, rimmed with even fluffier white fur.

The first burnt his corneas with it's over kill of flashiness, and the second looked too antique. Figuring that the third selection held no bearing to the other's, Saïx selected his last option despite the fact that it bore a striking resemblance to that frighteningly obese man with candy cane color themed clothing. That out of the way, there was only one thing left to buy.

"Good afternoon, sir." An employee greeted him. "Anything I can help you with?" she asked, brushing back a stray lock of hair behind her triple pierced ear.

"Yes, ma'am there is." Saïx replied, equally formal. "I'm looking for tree ornaments."

"Come with me sir, if you would." The teen led him to the next aisle over, the one that ran along the side wall of the store. "I'm sure you'll find something here you'll like." Along both shelves was a lengthy display of multi-colored, multi-shaped, multitude of decorations. Saïx stood in momentary awe, soaking up all his good luck. "Any more questions today, sir?" the woman inquired.

"Yes, there is one – how much will all this cost?" the employee giggled.

"Well that does depend on the quantity." She answered.

"No, I mean it. How much will all of this cost?" Saïx restated, sweeping an arm over the expanse of glittering ornaments.

"Planning a big party?" she said seriously, shocked.

"I guess you could say that." The seventh member said wryly.

"Let me ask the manager…"

* * *

In the end, the total came out to be some un-godly, unmentionable sum that left even a big spender like Saïx speechless. Larxene would be proud. The man tied back his long cornflower tresses into a low ponytail and examined the obstacle before him. Stupid tree. Stupid fifty foot tall, green, perfectly preserved with frosted tips, laced with pinecones, poinsettias, cranberries, twiggy things, and sturdy tree! It was a good thing he had bought a butt-load of ornaments. Having never decorated a tree before, he was at a complete loss. Larxene probably wanted him to suffer for attacking Keely the day before.

Not knowing where else to start – now that everything was sorted into their appropriate piles – he grabbed for the ball shaped ornaments. He had bought them in three main colors – ruby, silvery white, and gold. The red orbs were the biggest, so he started by putting them on first. By the time he had used up one box (approximately 24 balls), only a fourth of the tree was covered. Oh, ya, he was going to need a ladder. And one hell of a ladder at that. Unfortunately, that particular ladder was the very same one that befell Larxene… literally. When he came back with the cursed thing, he found Demyx bouncing around excitedly, poking random ornaments and giggling insanely to himself.

"Number Nine?"

"Huh? Oh, you!"

"What are you doing?"

"Can I help out? Pwease, Saïx-y? Pweeeaaase?" the blonde begged, eyes glimmering with hope. Saïx looked from the tree to the water user and back again.

"Yes, Demyx, you may help out with the tree." He gave in. "Just don't break anything, or Larxene won't be the only one after you!"

"SQUEE!" Demyx cheered, punching the air.

"Here, you can start by putting these on." The seventh member handed him satin balls with characters on them. They worked in semi-silence, that is, until the blonde would exclaim something like, "Look! It's Mrs. Piggy and Kermit the frog!" or "Heh heh…. It's Snoopy and all those little birds! They look kinda like baby chocobos!" Finally the last ball ornament was hung, this one displaying "Mickey's Philar Magic!" and the two stood back to admire their work. After a few things were moved around to create balance, they began on the next segment – "icy stuff", as the water wielder called it. This consisted of dangling icicles, beaded snowflakes strung on pale ribbons, and little fiber optic faeries that carried artic themed objects. During such, Demyx tried to strike up a conversation.

"Didn't take you too long to get all of this, did it?"

"Nope."

"How'd you choose so fast? I'd be there for like EVER!"

"I know…" he commented dryly. "I wiped out the entire store, bought it all."

"That seems kinda greedy to me."

"I don't think this will be enough as it is." Saïx shrugged.

"I dunno, there is a ton here."

"Not as much as you may think."

"Maybe." The blonde shrugged. "How do you think Larxene is doing?"

"Well if she's feeling good enough to order people around without even being there to enforce it, I'd say she's doing pretty darn well."

"Point taken. Did you do everything you were supposed to?"

"This is the last of it."

"Oh, I see. I wonder why she didn't have me do anything?"

"Probably didn't want you to screw it up."

"Huh?"

"I mean, she probably didn't want you to do it all. Besides, with the way it's going, it'll be Axel's turn tomorrow, then yours."

"Oh, I see." Demyx nodded agreeably. "What do you think she'll have me do?"

_Go jump off a cliff._ "Well, whatever needs doing by then."

"So what do you think she'll have Axel do?"

"Hopefully something long, grueling, and painful."

"Eh?! Why would she wanna do that to Axel?"

"She wouldn't, I'm just hoping, that's all."

"Oh, I get it. Still, it's not very nice to say that. But it seems like everyone else has already done what they need to do, so I'm not really sure what'll be left for him."

"Oh, she'll think of something."

"Who will?" Roxas asked, plopping down on a couch beside some ornaments.

"Larxene." Saïx answered, bending a branch to work better. That was the thing with artificial trees – if a branch didn't work, you could bend it however much you needed too.

"Funny you should mention her." The teen stated, reclining slightly. "Lexaeus and I are going to leave in a half hour to go pick her up from the hospital."

"WHAT?!" the blue haired man shrieked. "And this tree is supposed to be done by then?! And why is she leaving so soon?"

"She only broke her leg, Saïx-y." Roxas shrugged. "She's got a cast now, and the surgery went along smoothly. And she's sober now too!"

"Sober?" Saïx frowned. "They let her have alcohol?"

"Not exactly… they put her on morphine. I guess Larxene can't handle morphine, 'cause she was having a bit of a hippie-dippy-trippy mind trip there. At least she was when I went to see her earlier."

"Whatcha mean, Roxy?" the elder blonde asked, sprawling out on the floor.

"Well–" he sniggered. "I saw her earlier this morning with Axel, right?"

"Okay?" the other member shrugged.

"Well, first of all the nurse came in and said that Larxene was ready to have some fluids now. She asked her what she wanted to drink, and Larxy's all like, 'BEER!'"

"Beer?" Demyx frowned.

"Funny huh?" Roxas nodded.

"Ya, Larxene doesn't drink beer."

"She gets an allergic reaction to it because there is hops in it." Saïx added.

"So that was weird enough, right? The nurse gave her this funny look, and Larxene keeps rambling on about wanting beer and that the doctor said she could have some. She got all mad because when they came back with her drinks, it was water and chocolate milk – note that it was chocolate instead of regular – instead of beer. So she kinda hotwired the bed so that whenever anyone touches the metal parts, they get an electric shock. Which was pretty darn funny when the nurses kept getting shocks and didn't get why. But then Axel went to wash his hands for some reason, and Larxene asked if the air conditioner had kicked on. I told her that it was just the sink, and she's all like, 'Of course, air _always_ comes out of the faucet!'"

"She did not say that." Saïx shook his head skeptically.

"She did, I was there." Roxas insisted. "She also freaked out when the person in the room next to her flushed the toilet because she thought she heard gunfire."

"Has she ever heard gunfire before?"

"In movies, sure. Haven't we all?" Demyx shrugged.

"I suppose so."

"And right as we left, we asked if there was anything we could get her, and she said that we could get her a cell phone charger."

"That's normal at least." Saïx said. "I'd be tense too if I were confined to a bed like that, broken leg or no. That would just be a way of channeling her energy."

"Would be, if she hadn't said she wanted one shaped like a _taco_!" Roxas laughed.

"Oh… that is weird, huh?" Saïx blinked.

"Yup. And she was humming 'Sexy Back' for a while there, too." Lexaeus walked into the room, hands I his tangerine hoodie, jangling his keys from within the center pocket.

"Oh, ya. I forgot about that!" the blonde smirked. "Well see ya guys! We'll be back within an hour or two, so I suggest you get a'cracken!"

* * *

"Finally! The ornaments themselves!" Saïx panted.

"Do we even know what we're putting on the tree?" Demyx queried.

"We will when we put them up, won't we?"

"Well, this is Donovan McNabb!" the blonde declared, holding up the miniature football player and placing him on the tree.

"And this is…" the lupine member checked the figure's base. "Alex Rodriguez."

"Hey, this one's cool!" the water user held another up. It was a casino-themed tree made up of a small poker table base, chips for a trunk, cards stacked to form a tree shape, and two dice at the top. "Betcha Luxord will love this one!"

"And Lexaeus would like this one." Saïx held up the ESPN logo surrounded by various sports equipment.

"Hey, none of us are doctors." Demyx frowned. "Or firefighters, or teachers, or coaches, and none of us are in the military either." He went on, pointing to a whole section of ornaments.

"So? I told you I wiped out the store, didn't I? We can just say that we're… paying homage is all."

"Ho-mag-e?" the blonde repeated slowly.

"Never mind, just hang them up."

"Oh sweet! Look at this next set!" the sitar player squeed. "There's a coffee cup, wine glasses, wine bottles, martinis, cell phones, laptops, iPods, truffles, shoes, and… Barbie?"

"Seriously?" Saïx strode over to his companion and examined the articles in question. Sure enough there was a small collection of excessive amounts of pink and fairy princess', and dancing princess', and a small fuzzy green and purple thing. "Try to put those towards the back and top of the tree." He decided firmly, hanging a Hot Wheels one and instantly thinking of Axel. Maybe he should get him one for Christmas. Or not. It didn't quite seem to be offensive enough.

"That's not the only girly thing here!" Demyx declared, holding up a near life sized Tinkerbell. "It the seven Princess' of Heart! Well, six minus Kairi." Sure enough, there sat Snow White, Aurora, Jasmine, Alice, Cinderella, and Belle each dressed for the season.

"Precocious brats." Saïx sneered, deliberately hanging Cinderella right next to Darth Vader with his lightsaber pointed straight at her chest. Similar fates awaited the other five, but involving things like being hit upside the head with a baseball bat, being attacked by /f/l/u/f/f/y/p/u/p/p/i/e/s/ wolves, being zapped by Buzz Lightyear's laser, being run over by Thomas the Train, and being hit with one of Harry Potter's spells. This all while having a more sinister thought process behind each "death", was a rather comical sight on the tree.

"Hey, Fluffy! Look! Emo's!" the blonde quipped, holding an ornament with a man bending down on one knee and holding a woman's hands in his own. Each of them wore heavy black clothing that looked far outdated and too formal for the current era.

"That's Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler, you moron!" the other snatched it away exasperatedly. "And hand over Superman before you break him."

"Geez, that sounds weird!" Demyx giggled. "Hey! I didn't think you'd get this one though. It already has your picture in it and everything."

"What?! I didn't put my photo in any of these." Saïx gave the water wielder a suspicious look, glanced at the ornament and back again. Eventually, he let his gaze lower to examine the oval ornament. It was a green wreath, wrapped with red ribbon, his picture in the middle. And on the wreath were small white bones and a plaque that read, "Puppy's First Christmas".

* * *

Heheheh... Saix abuse! In case ya'll didn't catch that (eh, this part was poorly written), the ornament was what Axel asked Zexion to pick up last chapter. When Roxas came into the room in this chapter, he sat mnext to the ornaments and put it in there. LOL I can only imagine Saix's face! I was gonna have the tree fall on him, but I wasn't sure where to place the event. Blue button? 


	8. Axelly

A/N: OMG! I am sooo sooo soooooooooooooo sorry that I am so behind on my chapters! GAH! -bows- Um, what is there to say? The day before this chapter was due (Monday), I spent the day watching Wolf's Rain episodes off of YouTube. Let's just say that Saix isn't the only one in love with the series. Doh... After that, I had a really busy schedule. I hope ya'll will forgive me; Christmas has always been the busiest time of year. I took extra care on this chapter to try and make up for it (scrambles to work on Chapters 9-11) so I hope you'll all enjoy it. This is the second time I've written a flashback, and the thought has been buzzing around in my head. I was going to add more Zeely/Kexion fluff, but I ended up with 13 pages worth without it anyways. I'm savin' all that fluffness for next chapter! Enjoy!

-NaAaAaAaAaAaAa! Please don't kill me!!! I know you were all mentally pwning me, and this morning I broke part of the nail on my big toe... off. It bled. So I think ya'll got your revenge there.-

_**13 Days of Christmas**_

_By: SilverIceWolf_

_Day 8: Axelly_

'_On the eighth day of Christmas,_

_My Kingdom gave to me,_

_Eight flames chakramming,_

_Seven Saïx a-snarling,_

_Six emo's angsting,_

_Five tomahawks,_

_Four scientists,_

_Three sideburns,_

_Two purple guns,_

_And a Zemmy who hates squee!'_

"Mnph! I need… sauce… mn sauce…" Axel moaned, his head on the table. A hand feebly groped at the bottles in front of him, finally catching hold of one of them. "Yay sauce." He said flatly, raising himself up and dumping massive amounts of Tabasco on his eggs.

"Axel, that's disgusting." Demyx complained, sipping his orange juice.

"Tch. This coming from the guy who eats bananas with spaghetti-O's and can manage to burn a salad from fifteen feet away with _water_." The redhead snapped back.

"Hmn, burn." Zexion smirked. "But he's right, you know. You do have some weird taste in food."

"Are you kidding me? He's like a dog, he'll eat anything!" Larxene added in. The blonde had come home the night before, but was still under strict orders of her doctors. For one, she wasn't allowed to roam about the castle in case of putting too much stress on her bum leg. She had to relax as much as possible and stay in her bed or on the couch all day. When she did have to get somewhere such as the table or the bathroom, she would use a wheelchair, for a short while, at least. Normally the doctors would have recommended crutches, but cost was not an issue, and with the castle being so expansive, they saw it in Larxene's best interest to use the chair.

"Mn… hotdogs." Axel smiled, falling back into his delirium.

"Aw, jeez! There he goes again!" Roxas sighed.

"I like eggs…"

"He's always doing that at breakfast!" Demyx complained.

"Si seniorita."

"I think he just called you a woman, Dem." Zexion said wryly.

"We're bringin' Zexy back…"

"Alright! Shut up!" the teen hit him over the head with a fist. "That one was deliberate!"

"Huh, how'd ya notice?" Axel replied sarcastically, sitting up and rubbing his head. "That hurt, ya know."

"Serves you right, you slacker." Xigbar jested, coming over to join them. The group of friends decided to have the morning meal separately this time, in order to spend a little time with Larxene. That little time being the few silvery moments where they weren't threatened by her to do her bidding – not like they minded _too_ much.

"I am not a slacker!" the chakram wielder retorted. "How am I a slacker?!"

"Huh, lessee here. Demyx, would you like to do the honors?"

"Sure thing!" the blonde smiled evilly.

"Aw, come on, Dem! I'm your roommate!" Axel whined.

"I know, so I've got even more dirt on you!" his friend giggled. "Okies, so you don't make your bed, you stay up all night playing video games or surfing the web when you should be typing up a report or studying, uh… you procrastinate everything, you do everything in your power to not clean up, you… dang, there really isn't that much to say – you're just a procrastinator and a lazy ass bum."

"Thanks, Demyx. I love you too. I just like to push the system, you conformist." He joked, still feeling drowsy. "You tell 'em Zexion."

"I'm not emo or Goth, I am me." The teen corrected placidly.

"Eeemooo!" Axel cried, stretching out across the table towards the sour cream.

"That's sour cream, Axel. And it's spelled I-M-O, not E-M-O." Larxene pointed out.

"Tch. So what? It's pronounced the same way." The redhead shrugged.

"WHOA!" Demyx exclaimed, causing everyone to stare at him expectantly. "An emo is a type of bird!"

"That's an emu Demyx, not an emo." Roxas slapped his forehead. "Emu's are big birds found in Australia, emo's are people who wear black and cry a lot and cut themselves."

"Uh… thanks for the information." The sitar player replied, rubbing his wrists unconsciously.

"Give me the Tostitooosss!"

"SHUT UP, DUDE!"

"Nooo! But I _need_ those."

"What are you on, man?"

"Ravioli…"

"Demyx, would you please?"

"Enchilada… pork rinds… sausages!"

"Eh, huh?!"

"Yummy, yummy sausages."

"Just do it!"

"I like tacos…"

"Uh, okay."

"Tacos are my frieeends!" Axel screeched as an icy jet of water splashed over him. "What the hell was that for?!" he spat, standing up and wringing out his clothes.

"You were dozing back to la-la-land there, dude." Xigbar chuckled as his friend attempted to swat him upside the head. "It's not fair that you get extra sleep time while we do all the work."

"This is all looping back around to calling me a slacker, isn't it?"

"Yup!" the one eyed man grinned. "'Sides, it is your day to work, ya know?"

"Huh? My day? What are you talking about?" the pyro asked as he engulfed his body in flames for a few brief seconds.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't be mad!" the older man waved his hands defensively.

"What? I'm just dryin' off!" the redhead shrugged, now completely dry.

"Oh… right. Well, anyways, it's like ol' Roxy boy here was sayin' yesterday." Xigbar explained. "So far blondie here –" he hitched his thumb at Larxene. "– has put us to work each day, but gives the brunt of the days work to us in numerical order."

"B.S." Axel scowled. "What did Xemnas have to do that was so grueling?"

"Give in." Larxene spoke up. "I'd say that's punishment enough, wouldn't you?"

"'Suppose so. But what about the rest of 'em?"

"Well Xiggy had to get lighting and decorations, Xaldy had to cook and buy groceries, Vexie had to be distracted so I could victimize his laboratory –"

"WHAT LABORATORY?!"

"– so I had him concoct some poisonous stuff that he calls a beverage and find the meaning of Christmas, Lexy had to find a tree, Zexy the tree toper, then Saïx-y? had to assemble it all." She counted off on her fingers.

"Oh, that is _so_ torturous." Axel rolled his eyes.

"Exactly! Which is why you should have no problem doing your assignment!" Larxene chirped, clapping her hands together.

"Eh?! Uh… ergh… and what is my assignment?" he asked begrudgingly.

"Today's assignment!"

"Dun dun DUN!"

"Shut up, Demyx."

"Sorry."

"Today's assignment is to take care of me!" Larxene winked merrily.

* * *

"Axel, hun, put that box over there." The blonde directed. With a groan, the eighth member stacked it upon yet another box, and wiped his brow.

"I thought I was supposed to be taking care of you, not be your slave for the day!" he cried exasperatedly.

"Well, you're taking care of my job." She shrugged. "You're being a big help, so try not to complain too much, 'kay?"

"Uh… sure." He agreed, taken aback by the statement. "What now?"

"Hmn." Cerulean orbs scanned the room critically. "We could use some more greenery, the colors aren't equaled out."

"Not every room has to be the same, ya know." Axel reminded her.

"I know! I'm just saying that it doesn't look right, there's too much silver."

"Silver and gold decorations!" Demyx sang, dropping off a small container. "Hey guys! Xaldin said you might want some of these."

"These?" Larxene frowned, moving over towards to tupperware. Removing the lid, she gasped. "Look, Axel, food!"

"Food?"

"Xaldy made us cookies."

"Uh-huh. Peanut butter with Hershey's kisses in the middle." The Melodious Nocturne informed them. "They're really good too."

"You don't say?" Larxene cocked an eyebrow, tossing him the half-eaten cookie.

"Heh heh, what can I say? Xaldy can make even spinach taste delicious!"

"So, what's up with everyone else? Aku and I haven't seen hardly anyone today, and we've been all over the castle!" the Savage Nymph inquired, taking a delicate bite of her cookie. "Mnph! This is delicious."

"Ain't it though?" Demyx agreed. "Most people have been sleeping, not much is goin' on, really. The Superior was reading a bit ago, and Xaldin's still in the kitchen. Saïx was watching Wolf's Rain for like the fiftieth time, Zexion's out with Keely, and Roxas has homework. Man, this bites! There's nothing to do today!"

"I could give you something to do." Larxene shrugged, reaching for another cookie. "But I doubt it would be anything you find fun."

"Eh heh heh. Good point. I'll just be in our room, _Aku_, twiddling my thumbs 'till you come back. Nothing's ever quiet with you around!"

"Shuttup Demyx!" Axel scowled, blushing profusely. The blonde laughed jovially and slipped around the corner. He peeked around and threw out a comment.

"By the way, I didn't know you two were dating!"

"Huh?!" the redhead blinked. "Oh! You, argh!" he looked around quickly for something to chuck at the sitar player, but he was gone the next time Axel looked up.

"Dating huh? What ever gave him that impression?" Larxene asked quizzically.

"N-nothing."

"Nothing? Surely it must have been something. You guys are roommates after all. And why are you blushing?"

"I-I'm not… hmph! Just give it a rest, will ya? Kid just caught me off guard, that's all."

"Sure he did. He's hardly a kid you know. Just a year younger than us."

"Doesn't act like it." Axel scoffed.

"And you don't act 18." The blonde chided.

"So what? Xigbar doesn't act 37, but I don't hear anyone complaining! And since when has that ever been a bad thing, anyways? I mean, sure I may act a bit cocky, but it doesn't mean I'm completel – mnph!" he cut off, eyes widening.

"You see, that's the problem with you." Larxene purred, allowing him to take the cookie out of his mouth. "You never know when to shut up, so you say too much, or not enough. Or maybe you're just not saying the right things."

"Oh, thanks bunches Larxy. That makes me feel loads better!" he replied sarcastically.

"Come on, your work for today isn't done just yet." She pushed back a stray hair. "I still need you to help me with those boxes. After that, we'll need to unload them."

"Ya, ya. What's in them anyways? Wait, don't tell me. More decorations, perhaps?"

"How'd ya guess?" the blonde giggled.

"It's strange, really." Axel commented, causing Larxene to perk up.

"What is, Aku?"

"I keep forgetting that you're disabled for now – somehow you manage to victimize us all the same, never missing a beat."

"There you go with the talking thing." She huffed.

"I think I distinctly remember this having to do with charm." He smirked.

"Y-you remember that?!" she asked incredulously.

"'Course. I said I would, didn't I?" Axel answered nonchalantly. "So… these boxes, right?"

"Uh-huh." Larxene nodded blankly.

"How much crap is in here, anyways!" he exclaimed, setting a box next to the pile. "Feels like you've stuffed elephants in here!"

"Gimme a break." The blonde sighed. "If they were packed with elephants, you wouldn't be able to lift them."

"And the box wouldn't be big enough. There." He popped his back and turned to open the nearest box. Seeing the contents, he couldn't help the tingling blush that crept across his cheeks. "Uh… interesting choice of decorations there, Larxy."

"Hmn?" she frowned, swallowing another cookie. "Why do you say that?"

"Because." The red head scooped out a branch of mistletoe and held it out to her.

"Mistletoe?!" the lightening user exclaimed. "Oh, Marly and I must have switched a couple of our boxes."

"Oh, great!" Axel moaned. "So where do I have to take them?"

"Nowhere."

"Huh?"

"Seeing as they were so heavy and all, we'll just put these up as well. It's kinda convenient in a way, because as I was saying earlier, this room needs more greenery. Looks like we've got plenty now! In any case, it'll save you the work."

"Cool. Thanks." He said hurriedly. "So, uh… you wanna lay these things out on the couch or somethin'?"

"Hmn. Ya, that's probably the best idea. Hey, Aku? Have you ever done this stuff before? Like decorating." She added hurriedly, catching herself from saying something that might provoke an _interesting_ comeback from him.

"Not exactly." He shook his head, smiling secretly because he knew she had caught herself.

"Okay, so you're going to tell me that Xigbar had you watch Martha Stewart so that way you could catch more women, right?"

"Xigbar? You think I do everything he suggests? Naw, I've been known to read from time to time, hard as that may be to believe."

"You know –" Larxene began. "– I think that's the first time you've managed to say something without screwing it up somehow."

"Well we can't _all_ be perfect." He sent her a meaningful glance that made shivers of electricity run up and down her spine. Axel set down the branch in his hand and came over close to her, smiling as something caught his attention. "Because sometimes –" he bent and reached for her hand, closing the proximity between them. "– we can't help it if our tongues allow us to talk too freely among certain people." Emerald orbs peered up into aquamarine mischievously, and he bent and licked the sugar off her fingertips. Larxene blushed profusely as the red head proceeded to clean every square inch of her fingers.

"A-Axel!" she burst out, coming to her senses. She snatched back her hand and slapped him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Heh heh, sorry Larx. I was just playin'." He backed away, rubbing the back of his neck self consciously. _Was that a look of hurt just then?_

"Don't you think you went just a tad too far?" she snapped.

"Alright, alright! I said I was jokin', didn't I? Geez Louise!" said the redhead. "Well, are we gonna hang these puppies or what?" he added, indicating to the mistletoe.

"Hmn, I'll tell you where to put them." The blonde answered guardedly.

"This is gonna take a while."

* * *

"Here?"

"A little more to the left."

"Now?"

"Your other left, Axel."

"Huh… oh, knew that."

"Riiight."

"Right?"

"No, there! Perfect." Four hours and twenty three rooms later, the last of the decorations had finally been hung.

"Finally!" Axel panted, plopping down in a kitchen chair beside Larxene. "Well if that wasn't exhausting."

"Welcome to my life, Axelly." The blonde joked. "I've been doing that and more non-stop for the passed seven days. It's kinda a blessing in disguise that I broke my leg – gives me a good excuse to rest at least."

"Geebus, seven days?! Ugh, it's enough just to do that much. I swear this castle needs People Movers, or fast moving sidewalks like in the airport, or escalators, or something!"

"That's true." Larxene giggled. "You want something to drink?"

"Hmn? Oh, ya, I'll get it. Uh, do you want something?" he offered awkwardly, placing a hand on her shoulder to keep her from rising.

"Oh. Um… sure. What are you getting?"

"Hot chocolate with marshmallows – I actually bought some more."

"Even more surprising yet is that you haven't eaten them all." She rolled her eyes. "Hot chocolate sounds nice."

"Whipped cream?"

"Only a little."

"Sounds good."

"Oh, and Axel? Don't make it too hot please."

"Heh heh. I'll try." The two stayed silent for a while, the only sounds coming from the microwave and aerosol can as fluffy white cream snowed into little mounds on the surface of each drink. "Hope that'll be okay."

"Thanks, Aku." Larxene beamed, feeling the sides of the cup and feeling pleasant warmth rather than scalding heat.

"I've been wondering." Axel mused, licking off the whipped cream. "What made you start calling me that again?"

"No reason." The blonde shrugged, staring fixedly into her mug.

"There's got to be. Last time you called me that, we had only just become Nobodies. You remember when we met back then, and I just mysteriously disappeared? That's because Lexaeus found me and took me in. But I always did wonder what happened to you… why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I figured that giving you a hint might help you remember." She whispered sadly.

"Well, I did. But why didn't you say anything before that?"

"I thought that if I was around you enough, you'd figure it out on your own."

"Larxene…" he trailed off, falling into his memories.

* * *

The sky was setting overhead, fading from pinks and oranges to soft lavenders that flew back into navy and the black abyss of night. Whispy clouds still hung, tinged with color, as a Serengeti sun fell below the horizon. In a few minutes, the daily phenomenon would be over, and the moon would unveil herself to rain pale light upon that part of the Earth. Tall metal skyscrapers punctured the air; sturdy brick enforced buildings stood guard. The streets grew readily still, soft beacons of light from the cars dwindling with the sunlight. Slowly, the world was starting over.

"Mn…" called a voice meekly. Two teenagers lay unconscious in an alley, younger children sleeping around them. It wasn't uncommon to find orphans these days. The one that had stirred tried to prop himself up, blinking emerald orbs. Once his vision had adjusted to the twilight, he observed his surroundings. Things were so fuzzy… how did he get here? Who were these other children? Did he know them? Should he? Groaning, he clutched his throbbing head with his hands, nearly loosing his balance. He attempted to call out for someone, but all that escaped him was a small whisper, lost on the wind.

"Argh…" a feminine voice moaned. The boy turned to the right sluggishly. Why did he feel so horrible? What had happened? The girl was coming into consciousness. She was very pretty – thin and curvy with short blonde hair.

"Are you –?" he began, but gasped sharply as the air before him shimmered. Stylized letters appeared before him, spelling out a name. _I should know that name. But where have I heard it before? It's so familiar, I should know…_ He glanced over at the girl. A similar thing was happening to her. His attention snapped back to the name before him, there was a slight rush of cold air as the letters scrambled themselves and wound around his body, coming back before his green eyes. An "X" evaporated out of the night and split the other three letters to form a new name. "Axel?" he whispered, before slipping back into darkness.

Within what felt like minutes, the boy woke up again. This time his headache had all but dissipated, and his strength had returned to him. Automatically, he looked over at the girl. She stared over at him with large aqua eyes, widened in fear. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice holding a slight edge.

"Axel." The redhead responded immediately. Then he frowned. _Why did I tell her that? That's not my name… is it? _"What's yours?"

"It's –" she stopped, shock spreading over her features.

"Can't remember?" Axel offered. "I'm not really sure that's my real name, actually. See, there were these iridescent letters around me – and you too – they spelled out some name that I should know, then rearranged themselves and came up with… 'Axel'."

"Do you know what mine said?" the blonde asked hopefully.

"Sorry." The boy shook his head. "I can't even remember what the original name was from my own." He squinted to see what lay beyond their alley. "Come on, we should get out of here."

"But it's pitch black! What if we get lost, or hurt? At least there are other kids here." The girl argued.

"True, but somehow…" he eyed the other slumbering children skeptically. "I don't feel like we should be here, something's just making me uneasy, like it's not a good idea."

"I feel it too." She sighed, looking down at her lap. She was wearing a sort of school uniform with a gray blouse and similar skirt with black and scarlet plaid interwoven into the fabric.

"Do you think your uniform might tell us who we are?" Axel asked.

"My uniform?" she frowned, looking herself over. "Oh, I see." She added upon taking a closer inspection of the boy. He too wore a school uniform, consisting of a gray jacket and slacks. His white undershirt was only half buttoned, and a tie in identical plaid to her skirt hung loosely around his neck, half-hidden by his shock of red hair.

"I think the same emblem on my tie is on your blouse." He added, trying to read the golden crest that was half worn away. The girl cocked her head and mouthed the words to herself until she got what seemed right.

"Shura Academy." She said finally. "At least, that's what I think it says. I could be wrong."

"Shin-ra." Axel corrected, staring blindly at the wall across from him.

"Shin-ra?" the girl repeated, as if testing out the sound of the word.

"Ya… but that still doesn't answer who we are or how we got here. And we'll never know by just staying here either."

"I guess…" even in the dark; he could see her biting her lip.

"Let's go together." He stood up and extended a hand to her. After a moment, she took it, and he led her out of the alley. The streets were now deserted, the only light coming from the streetlights now, but most were broken or flickered. Their shoes crunched over glass that burst from these lights, as well as the glass from broken cans. Wind whistled through the blocky buildings noisily, but when it died, there was silence. A thick, deathly, unusual silence. A cat yowled from behind a dilapidated car, startling the two.

"Shoo." Axel hissed when the feline approached. "Git."

"No." the girl put a hand to the redhead's chest. "Shhh. Come here kitty, kitty, kitty!" she cooed, crouching down and patting the ground in front of her. The cat purred and brushed up against her. The blonde giggled lightly and scooped the creature up in her arms, petting it affectionately. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Please don't tell me you're gonna name it." He begged.

"What's wrong with that?" the other teen frowned.

"Because that shows attachment, and you don't even know if that cat belongs to somebody already or not."

"Or it could be a stray." She countered defiantly.

"Fine, just keep quiet. We still don't know what we'll run into."

"Which is why we should've left in the morning when we had light to work with."

"Which makes it all the harder to assess the situation." He growled impatiently, scanning the town's square skeptically.

"You're impossible." Blue eyes glared.

"I know." He smirked. They walked to the center of the square where a large, rotund fountain sat. The edges and base where crafted of a white stone, rings of pale, chipping, blue lapis encircling it. The center figure was of a woman, draped in loose fitting garments, her long hair only partially tied back. Her long bangs blew across her chest and partially covered her face, which held a lost sort of look to it. Her eyes were downcast, and tears rolled down her cheeks for the eternity of her being. Her hands and feet were bound in strips of gauzy cloth – or would have been, had she been real – and dangling loosely in a hand were a few sparse flowers. The girl recognized them immediately.

"Forget-me-nots." She breathed, pointing to the small bouquet.

"Very good, girly, yes." A greasy voice called as a young man stepped out of the darkness. The blonde gasped, and stepped closer to Axel, clenching her hands into tight fists around the cat's orange fur.

"You wanna know why she's crying?" he grinned menacingly, reaching for something in his pocket, just under his coat. The girl shook her head violently.

"Leave her be!" Axel yelled angrily, stepping forward.

"She's crying for the loss of her children!" the man continued, pulling the hidden pistol from it's holder and pointed it at the two. The girl gasped and choked back a scream, but Axel could sense her fear, along with his own.

"What do you want from us?" he called out, trying to steady his voice.

"Well, little boy…" another man crept from an alley to the right of them, two more men following after.

"Aku!" the girl whimpered.

"I-it's going to be okay. Just do as I say, alright?" he assured her, gathering his nerve. She nodded mutely, but that was all he needed.

"Little children shouldn't play by themselves, little children shouldn't play where the darkness fells; All who walk within the light, surely can't they see their plight?" a third man called, tossing a beer bottle to his companion, who took a hearty swig of the amber fluid. Axel scowled.

"Drunks shouldn't play in the dead of night; drunks can't put up much of a fight."

"Is that a challenge, boy?" the first man called in a gravelly voice.

"Aku! What?!"

"Trust me." He whispered. "Ya." He shouted out. "You can call that a challenge."

"You're in over your head, boy." Someone called, advancing. Axel took a deep breath to steady himself, taking up a fighting stance that for some reason felt so natural. He tensed as the four drunks approached him waiting until they were barely a yard away.

"RUN!" he shouted, pushing the girl away, using the force to launch himself at his nearest enemy. The man cried out in pain and shock as a metal toed boot rammed into his stomach and caused him to topple over, gasping for air. The man beside him received a swift punch to the ribs, but caught the redhead's wrist upon going in for the second blow. The cat yowled and sprang away, leaving the blonde standing stock still, watching in horror and fascination. _He'll be killed for sure. There's no way he can handle all four of them! _

"GO!" Axel screamed at her. The man's grip on his wrist had tightened to a painful degree. Mind racing, he did the only thing that came to mind – kneed him in the crotch. His attacker gasped and released his grasp, giving Axel enough time to perform a scissor-kick, successfully hitting the other two men that had rushed him.

"I'm not going to let you get killed! I'm not weak, I'm gonna help you!" she cried.

"Idiot! Just run! I'll be fine!" Side kick, roundhouse kick, back handspring turning into another scissor kick, dodge roll into fighting stance, upper cut, back kick.

"Well, well. Aren't you a pretty little doll?" One of the men had crawled away from the fight. The blonde let out a muffled gasp as he latched onto her arm, pulling her in close to him.

"Let go of me!" she pleaded, trying to wrench her arm away. "Let. GO!" she shrieked, slamming her palm into his abdomen. There was a flash of light and an agonized scream as bolts of electricity sprang from her hand and into his flesh. Axel and the other three men looked up in surprise, not catching the exchange that had taken place. The girl stood in shock over the man – he was dead. She had killed another human being; the electric current had messed with his own, and stopped his heart. And there was no blood or sign of a fight. He was just dead.

"You little WRETCH!" the original man hollered, running towards her. She yelped and backhanded him, stumbling backwards. He winced and clutched at his face where three slick lines of crimson ran along his cheek, pooling up and trickling down his craggy features in rivulets. The blonde was panting now out of fear and exertion, aquamarine orbs widened in panic. Her gaze darted from her opponent's face to her still upraised hand and chocked back a cry to see three glinting kunai knives laced between her fingers, edged with blood. Axel saw none of this, distracted by the other two. One of them did see, and turned to run in fright. The redhead growled, driven by rage. _Who the hell are these men to just come and attack us for no reason?! We've done nothing wrong, and what's more, they wanted nothing more than to kill us! Didn't even have the decency to refrain from fighting the girl!_

With all his might, he kicked his singular opponent in the ribs, hearing the gruesome sound of cracking bones, and ran after the one that had turned tail. "You're not going anywhere!" he called sadistically, extending a hand. Suddenly, flames sprang up from out of the ground, blocking the escapee's exit. In a frenzied panic, he reached for a broken beer bottle and held it in front of himself protectively, waving the sharp glass at Axel. The teen sneered and approached, undaunted. "You think that a mere bottle will protect you?" In a flash, he had raised his leg and kicked the weapon out of the man's hand. "Well, you will have protection –" he faked an attack, and then swung out, kicking the other into the flames. "– Nevermore." He stood there a while, deaf to the screaming, shaken into reality of what he had done. A gunshot rang out, breaking the shock of his own audacity, and he whirled around to see the blonde girl, grasping at her shoulder in obvious pain. Axel ran to her side, skidding to a halt midway.

"I TOLD YOU TO GET AWAY!" hear scream rang out in the night as she gathered her fading strength and uppercut the man's stomach in a slicing motion. He gagged and clutched at the offending area, falling to his knees. Blood began to pool up around him, and the two teens both knew he was as good as dead.

"And that only leaves _you_." The redhead breathed in a deathly whisper.

"P-please! Have mercy!" the man begged, kneeling.

"Mercy? Why should we give you mercy, when you showed none to us? No, you deserve death." Axel snarled, seizing the front of the man's shirt.

"No." the man's hazel orbs widened and contracted in fear.

"We can't have you repeating anything that you've seen here, now can we?"

"Please! I swear, I won't breathe a word!"

"You'd better not." Axel threw the older man down on the ground, emerald eyes glinting angrily. "'Cause if you do, you'll be joining your little friends here." He gestured to the two remaining corpses.

"B-bless you!" the man sighed in relief, scurrying off into another alley. Axel stood beside the girl, who unblinkingly grasped his hand.

"Would you have done it?" she whispered.

"No." Axel sighed, turning her around and sitting her down at the fountain's edge. "I'm not that cruel, but…" he glanced over to the subsiding embers.

"You killed a man, didn't you?" she asked, turning to him.

"Ya." He nodded shakily. "I wouldn't have normally, but he was right there and…" he put his head in his hands, staring at the ground disbelievingly.

"You were only protecting me… and yourself." She added hastily.

"But he tried to run."

"He would have told."

"Either way, I'm a murderer now." He wiped away the crystal tears that coursed down his cheeks irately.

"No, not just you. I killed two." She admitted, placing a hand on his knee. "We're in this together now, like it or not."

"No." Axel shook his head and looked at her seriously. "You'd still get in trouble, but at least they'd let you off easy for defending yourself. You could just say it was sexual assault, which it probably was."

"And what about you? I know what you did. How would they ever know? They _were_ all drunk, right?"

"There's something not right about us." He spoke up. "That fire… I think I summoned it, somehow. And you –"

"There was electric current coursing through me, and then these knives appeared in my hands…" the blonde examined them, each without a knife. "And we both have amnesia to an extent. I still don't know my name, and you're just guessing at your own. And I feel so… hollow. Like there's a part of me that's missing."

"Me too." Axel nodded. "Which is why I don't think it's safe for us to be discovered. That guy said he wouldn't say anything, but who knows what some alcohol will do to loosen his tongue? That's why I'll take the blame for all of it."

"WHAT?!" the girl gasped. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I will. I dragged you into this, so it's my fault. If I had only listened to you, we would never have left where we were and all of this would have been avoided. And you got hurt too. Jeez, you could have been killed, both of us! You don't deserve to be caught. Hell, it's the least I can do to make it up to you. At least one of us should go free." He said resolutely, resignation creeping into his tone.

"Aku." She breathed, taking both of his hands in her own. He looked up at her curiously, and turned to face her. "You don't need to do that on my behalf."

"But I –"

"Shhh. I don't want you to get in trouble for this either. I know what'll happen to people who go in jail, and it's not a pretty thing. I don't want that to happen to you. Um…" her blush went unnoticed in the flickering of the streetlights. Peering deep into his eyes she gulped softly, leaning in to kiss him. Their lips met tenderly as they drew closer together, Axel instinctually cupping her face in his hand, deepening their kiss. Breathlessly, they broke away, both in understanding.

"We'll meet again, I promise." Axel whispered. "You're not like the other girls, you fight back." He grinned lightly.

"And I promise too." The blonde agreed, brushing away a loose strand of hair. "Please, don't forget me?" she begged.

"Don't think I could, even if I wanted to." The redhead replied.

"You'd better not." She giggled nervously. "So… were will you go?"

"Who knows? You?" he shrugged.

"This way, I guess." She pointed to a narrow street optimistically.

"Then, I guess I'll head back." Axel blinked. "Bye." The blonde bit her lip sadly and but stared back determinedly.

"Good bye, Aku. I hope that when we meet again, we'll be free. And hopefully that'll be soon." She waved awkwardly, then walked quickly toward her decided path.

"Bye." He breathed, unable to erase the haunting image of her melancholy beauty.

* * *

"Your hot chocolate is getting cold." Larxene spoke softly.

"I don't feel so thirsty anymore." Axel answered pensively. "Why did we decide to split up?"

"Because we both knew that if we stuck together, then we could both be caught, and we didn't wish that on the other." She answered, staring into her own filled mug.

"But we'd have still been together." He replied, picking out a marshmallow.

"We were young, Aku." She reminded him. "Still attending Shin-ra Academy. God, that would have put us at fourteen, maybe almost fifteen."

"That was four years ago." He calculated.

"It seems like forever." She shook her head. "I thought about you often during those years. Did you… did you ever think of me?"

"All the time." He sniffed. "I-I looked around for you. But… it wasn't long after that that Xemnas found me, or rather, Lexaeus found me."

"That soon huh?" the twelfth member mused, swishing the hot cocoa around. "It took them a year to find me at least. Then they handed me over to Marluxia and I had to help deal with that whole Castle Oblivion thing the following year. That's when we met for the first time."

"Second." The Flurry of Dancing Flames corrected. "That was the second time we met, but the first time as actual members of Organization XIII."

"And the first time since that whole thing happened." She shuddered.

"Funny. The apathetic princess is disturbed by memories." He teased lightly.

"Aren't you? You were in a pretty sorry state when you realized what had transpired." She looked up angrily.

"Memories haunt me all the time." Axel settled back down. "Like yours."

"Huh?" she cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean, 'like yours'?"

"I never forgot you, Larxene. I never knew your name. It wasn't that I forgot you, I just didn't recognize you. But you knew it was me from the beginning, so why didn't you?" he sighed dejectedly and rested his face in a hand.

"When I first came to the Organization –" She began. "– I wasn't at all sure what was expected of me, or what all of these changes would mean. I wondered if it meant the end of my search for you, if I'd be confined here forever. When I ran into you again at Castle Oblivion, I couldn't help but notice the striking resemblance – I mean, how many guys of gorgeous green eyes, a shock of red hair that defies gravity, and those teardrop markings? Then I heard Marluxia call to you, and I knew. But I was still in doubt. I didn't think things could work out so perfectly, so I chose to ignore it and pretend that it was no big deal. But as more and more time passed, I could no longer hide the fact that I had finally found you, so I started to try and drop hints. I guess it worked in the end, but…" she sighed. "I'm sorry I was too pig headed to not have said anything."

Axel gaped at her. Larxene was never known to be one to make apologies, even when she should've. He shook himself mentally. "And I'm sorry that I didn't recognize you." He looked away ashamedly. "It had been a while and you look a lot different now than you did then… uh, you cut your hair shorter for one." He groped about for an example.

"I know what else you mean." Larxene giggled. "And I don't blame you either. Looking back, I don't think I would have recognized me too. For one, I don't wear miniskirts anymore!"

"Why?" Axel blurted out before he could stop himself. "Er, I mean…"

"See what I mean about talking too much?" she chided, ignoring the usual anger that would have normally come up about such a statement. "The Aku I knew back then was fine with who he was and said things from his heart. This new Aku has spent too much time with Xigbar and is convinced that he has to be a certain way to be happy. Let's go back to the way things were, okay?" and just as before, she leaned forward and they shared a kiss identical to the one four years prior. As they broke away, Axel whispered happily, "Ya, I could live with that."

* * *

YAY LARXEL FLUFF!!! Yes, I am aware that people have allegedly discovered the names of all the member's others, but I'm gonna be a stickler to the whole AxelReno and LarxeneElena. At least you can anagram out the second one, but come on, Axel's other's name cannot be under any circumstances: LEA! Why? Because it's too girly, he's too hott, it's not cool enough, I said so. LOL If anything, I think Ael or Lae sound better. I really liked Saelan, but as proven on DevArt, it anagrams out... interestingly. Hope the flashback was satisfactory. I've made Axel and Larxy both 18, and 14 when they became Nobodies. According to me, they were still training to be Turks and lost their hearts undergoing the process of becoming mercenaries... or something. Uh, in case you can't tell, I'm an Axel fangirl. -Le sigh- I really hope you're not too mad at me, and I'll do my best to catch up. Happy Holidays until then - Christmas is only three days away! 


	9. Demmy

A/N: For all of you who have stuck by this story even though Christmas has come and gone and we're in January, I send you my heartfilled thanks. This chapter is about... DEMYX! -squees- It's the second longest followed up by Axel's chapter just before it and beaten out by Zexion's chapter which is over 9000 words long. I'm working on Luxord's, please don't eat me. Uh... things are taking longer than expected because I'm back in school now and because I'm working on a lot of other projects. In co-writing news, I'm working on Jenova's Children which has entered it's eighth chapter (Whooole lot more to go! When we story boarded it, it had nine chapters. According to the plot points layed out, we're only just began chapter five!). Besides for that, there is a new secret co-writting right now, and I have yet to begin my chapters (all 23 of them). As for myself personally, I still need to write the third chapter for Dearly Beloved! And then I wanna write one-shots for the Organization XIII about each of their other's. And then I want to write a commerative poem for the first thing I posted on here. And speaking of poem's I want to write poems about the Org XIII. And speaking of KH in general, I wanna write a highschool fic with them! -pants- And some other stuff too... ya... I've been learning how to write in hirogana, which is loads of fun! -squees- I'm also making AMV's for my YouTube account, because I haven't put anything new up in a while. I need to find the mp3 for "I Constantly Thank God for Esteban" by Panic! at the Disco, because I have a really good premise for it. Right now I'm making one (KH, of course) to "Love Like Winter" by AFI. Coincidentally, both my and YouTube user names are the same. Makes things nice a simple, ne? Anywhoo, I hope ya'll enjoy this chapter - I tried to make it as fluffy/light/Demyx-y as possible, but alas, there is ANGST! Yay happy angst! Yay for oxymorons! -coughs- I'm rambling aren't I? Enjoy!

_**13 Days of Christmas**_

_By: SilverIceWolf_

_Day 9: Demmy_

'_On the ninth day of Christmas,_

_My Kingdom gave to me,_

_Nine Demmy's dancing,_

_Eight flames chakramming,_

_Seven Saïx a-snarling,_

_Six emo's angsting,_

_Five tomahawks,_

_Four scientists,_

_Three sideburns,_

_Two purple guns,_

_And a Zemmy who hates squee!'_

"Hutal, Hutala, Hutala, Hey! Playing my sitar everyday!" the Melodious Nocturne sang as he dusted off the curtains. "Hutal Hutala Hutala, ho! Won't stop playing! No no no!" Both Larxene and Xemnas had demanded that the castle be spotless for Christmas, seeing as Marluxia had decided to invite people… a lot of people. The majority would come on Christmas Eve for a party, and then a few would come on the actual day. Needless to say, Xaldin was in a grump from being worked ragged with cooking preparation.

"Faster, faster, fast it goes!" Demyx sang bolder, "swiffering" the TV screen. "Playing the sitar with my toes!" Maybe he should mop the floor? That was always fun, until he had to clean the water up. Which was of course, the mopping bit. "Hutalahey Hutalahey, Hutalahey, oh, Oheyoh!" Screw it. Water was too fun to play with. He punched out his right hand, holding his palm out flat. "I like my sitar! I like my sitar!" The air above his palm glittered and sparked into life, weaving into the shape of a translucent orb. "I play the sitar, sitar! Wherever I go!" The orb burst into water droplets, fanning out over the blonde's head and crystallizing into a sitar. Demyx caught the musical instrument and swung it into playing position, "Oheyoh!"

The Melodious Nocturne stroked the cool blue metal fondly. His fingers trailed down into their respective places, striking a few notes. He giggled happily before playing a string of notes, "Dance, water, DANCE!" he called, sending forth a wave of water to go crashing down to the tile floor. "Yay!" the blonde cheered, playing the victory tune from Final Fantasy VII. "Uh… now what?"

"Now you clean up my kitchen." Xaldin growled, breathing down the ninth member's neck.

"WHA!" Demyx exploded, jumping around and waving his arms around. "H-heya, Xaldy. Didn't see you there!" he scratched the back of his neck nervously, laying the sitar upright against his thigh.

"That was the point." The Whirlwind Lancer huffed, breathing heavily through his nose. In that sort of way, he reminded Demyx of one of those bulls in Barcelona that comes mere centimeters away from goring matadors. Good thing he wasn't wearing red today, it wasn't exactly his color anyways. Hmn, Axel should watch out.

"So, uh… think you could help me Jet Dry it?" he squeaked.

"No." Xaldin spat.

"O-okay then. Uh, I'll just… yagh!" quickly, he summoned up a portal of darkness and hopped inside, hoping it would dissipate before Xaldin decided to join him. Discharging his weapon – which left in a sparkle of bubbles – he raced to the first room he could think of. The weirdest part about using the corridors of darkness was the fact that you could never hear footfalls, which was both good and bad, depending on the situation. That, and that everything correlated between those twilit roads and the real one.

"EH-uh!" He stepped into the room, righting himself. As if the corridors weren't disorienting enough, they also took a bit of energy to summon, and stepping in-between planes was not an easy thing to do gracefully. The room he had selected was the ballroom. It was furnished with scarlet carpeting with dark honeyed wood inlay in the center, heavy velvet curtains, a sleek black grand piano, plush couches, ottomans, and chaise lounge, golden leafed chandeliers, crown molding, and small, spindly gold and black tables pressed up against the walls with vases of peach, red, white, and yellow roses. But Demyx was not alone.

"Uh… Aku?" Larxene stared fixedly ahead.

"Ne?" the redhead frowned, swiveling around to see… "Where'd you come form?!" he exclaimed, caught off guard.

"The kitchen." The blonde trembled. "I was cleaning the floors and got a little carried away and nowZaldy'sgonnakillme!"

"Come again?" Axel shook his head. "'Kay, so Xaldin's got another one of us on his hit list. So what?"

"Heeelp meee!" the ninth member whined.

"Uh, how about no?" the pyro sighed.

"But, but… WHOA!" Demyx suddenly exclaimed. He hadn't seen Axel's arm around Larxene's slender shoulders before. "A-am I missing something here?"

"You'll be missing something else if you don't leave now." The Savage Nymph hissed, making to summon her kunai.

"Ack!" the mullet headed member backed up to the door, groping around for the handle.

"If you want some luck, why don't you go see Luxord?" Axel drawled.

"Got it!" Demyx nodded quickly.

"Last I saw him; Xigbar was losing everything he owned to him in a round of poker. They should be in the billiard room."

"Get it, got it, gone!" the blonde confirmed, speeding out into the hall. Larxene giggled girlishly.

"He's so innocent, it's cute."

"Ya, it's _so_ cute when he wakes me up every morning by dousing me with water." Axel rolled his eyes.

"But he's like the Organization's pet, seeing as he's not the best fighter."

"Oh, so now he's a dog?"

"More like a cat, I'd say."

"That's a good point. If you poke his lower back when he's sleeping, he purrs just like one. I, however, say that he's most like a goldfish – loves water, can swim, and has the memory span of two seconds." The two laughed, and subsided into silence.

"So how long do you think it'll be before he comes back here asking where Luxord is?"

"I'll give him five minutes."

* * *

"So… how's life?" Saïx asked, sipping his cranberry tea. He sat on a small plush couch before a low, rectangular coffee table. Around him were several bookcases built into the walls, two double doors inset with windows sat at both ends of the squatty waiting room, both ajar. The walls were plastered in wallpaper; the blue and white porcelain design repeating itself after a good foot or so. White, silky sheers dressed the single bay window that lay between both sets of doors, at whose sill stood Xemnas. He stared blankly through the veiled glass at the perfectly manicured lawn, teacup and saucer lying in his upraised palm. 

"Life?" he repeated blandly.

"Well, existence?" Saïx tried again, feeling a tad uncomfortable on the subject.

"More like nonexistence." His superior corrected.

"If one wishes to be technical." The blue tressed man shrugged, appearing nonchalant.

"Hmn." Was all that was said for a while. "What do you think of Number Six dating a human girl?"

"I believe it to have been wrong of him to have brought her to the hospital. But as for him being with her… I see no wrong in it. She obviously does not care that he is lacking a heart, and it is my belief that she is aware of his demonic side as well. Besides, we have the obligation to… 'eliminate' her should the matter reach more public ears."

"Let's pray it doesn't ever come to that." Xemnas retorted, taking a long drink from his cup. He stared into it, swishing the few dregs around, thinking. It didn't exactly aid his troubled mind that the color of the beverage was the approximate color of fresh blood. "But it will be a test, now won't it?" he added, draining the cup.

"A test, Sir?" Saïx frowned, squinting his aureate orbs.

"Indeed." The other man nodded sharply, placing his cup upon the table and sitting opposite the seventh member. "And how many times must I insist you address me informally when we are alone?"

"My apologies, Xemnas." The Lunar Diviner sighed, setting his teacup aside as well. Unfortunately, that meant bending over slightly, and those fragrant white orchids were starting to affect him. Hoping the other man didn't see him wince – which he did – he positioned himself more comfortably on the couch.

"I'll move those, they are potent even to myself." Xemnas offered, replacing the vase in another room to Saïx's very thankful nose's relief. When he reappeared in the room, the wolfish man spoke up again.

"You wished to talk to me, Si- er… Xemnas?"

"I do." The founding member grinned.

"About Zexion and Keely?"

"No, actually. About us."

"Come again?!" Saïx gaped, unable to hide the shock and disturbance in his expression.

"Heavens, no! Not what you're thinking!" the silver tressed man assured him hurriedly. "I meant about our secret side of Organization XIII. Now that Zexion has left, that brings us down to ourselves and Vexen. Now from here, I could see this going two different ways. We could recruit more members; hell, I could force them into it if I wanted to, or we could disband."

"Disband? Are we really doing so poorly?" Saïx frowned, playing with a round earring unconsciously.

"I'm afraid so." Xemnas admitted.

"Then we should do something before this operation dies! We've poured quite a bit of effort into this thing, and I'd hate to see it end with such a spectacularly poor end."

"I concur." The other man nodded. "But we have to look to who we have left to turn to for backing. Obviously, we can't reach out to humans, them being our enemies and all. We can always use those Heartless and lesser Nobodies festering underneath this castle, but they were intended to be used from the get-go. What we need is more strength from our own kind."

"Or from youkai like myself?" Saïx posed, picking up his teacup again.

"How many do you say there are in this town alone?"

"A fair few." The blue tressed man answered vaguely. "But I fear their rates would be far too high."

"Rates?! Isn't ridding them of their enemies enough?" Xemnas exclaimed.

"Hmn, extermination of human-kind is not all that we seek, and not all of us seek it. It is merely a generalization of our race, just as it is commonly believed that we Nobodies are derived of not only a heart but logic as well. No, youkai and hanyou search for new strengths and powers, domination of each other, and inevitably, complete and utter control. That is what makes them so dangerous, their instability, because they use it against each other at every turn. It is that same very thing that makes them impossible to work with – fear that they are plotting against you at every turn. Reliable service would require something marvelous indeed. No, I think we are best as you say with our own kind. But whom?"

"Well, let's review: Xigbar is out of the question. He is far too childish when it comes down to it, and one of the more rebellious of our Organization. Xaldin is a likely candidate, although he is as fickle as the wind itself so that makes him unreliable. But a candidate nonetheless. Vexen is already under our employ, so after him comes Lexaeus. Do you have any information on him?"

"No, actually. Don't you?" Saïx shook his head.

"Well, no…" Xemnas admitted sheepishly.

"Don't we run background checks on people before we admit them to the castle?!" the lupine member sighed exasperatedly.

"What's there to check? I mean, we all have fractured memories."

"Of our other's, I mean." Saïx explained. "Don't you recall yours?"

"Yes, Xehanort." Xemnas nodded sagely. "A scientist. Under whose instruction were the others of our first five members – Braig, Dilan, Even, Elaeus, and Ienzo. What of Saïx? I've never thought to ask."

"An astronomer. Isa was fascinated with wildlife and the beauty of nature, and to my belief, my have been a lycanthrope."

"One who believes in animal transformation?"

"He was right it seems." Saïx snorted, examining his claws. "And he got his wish to a degree to boot. What of the others?"

"I don't know much, outside their names. Numerically, the next in question would be Axel. Larxene and himself were actually together when they came into being as Nobodies, as they came from the same place – some mega power company called 'Shin-ra'. Apparently, their others – Reno and Elena – had lost themselves during training as mercenaries called Turks, but repossessed themselves before becoming Heartless permanently. They are the only ones of us, outside of Roxas, who we know to be the Nobody of Sora, that has living counterparts, so far as we know. Demyx's other was called Dyme, and he started his working background as a pizza delivery boy. He came from a family of five, having one older brother and one younger brother. This explains his closeness to Axel and Roxas, seeing as the age range is similar to him, and his playful disposition. He was also the leader of a garage band, with himself as lead guitar. He became a Nobody when someone he loved died. We know so much about him because of his innocent and open soul. Irregardless, his attachment to Axel and Roxas mark him as off limits to our purposes."

"He's weak, too." Saïx added.

"Except for his timed attacks." Xemnas agreed ruefully. "Those are killer. Anyways, Luxord's other was named Durlo. Durlo was a mathematics teacher for the ninth grade and spent his weekends at casinos rather than grading papers. He came from England and moved here when he was in his older teen years. Our version of him has a greater tendency for the latter, as well as the frequency of alcohol consumption. After him is Marluxia, the last of the group. His other's name was Lumaria. He was a botanist and a bit of what is called a 'hippie'. However, Marluxia doesn't have the drug and alcohol addiction, unlike it seems, Lumaria did. Both Nobody and Other were and are bisexual, it seems."

"And that runs us out of possible aid." Saïx sighed heavily. The two sat in silent a while, reminiscing in their half-memories. "So we abort the mission?"

"We abort."

* * *

"Pleeeaaassseee Luxord!" Demyx begged, tearing up. 

"A' right! A' right! Just chill, lad." The towhead said impatiently. Xigbar slunk down in his chair, disgruntled. The Brit shot him a toothy smile and shuffled the cards expertly. "Sit down, Demyx. Join us a while."

"B-but Xaldin's gonna –" the sitar player protested.

"Na-uh." Xigbar drawled. "You forget I'm in a higher position than him."

""Sides, being by me, some of my luck has got to rub off on ya." Added an abnormally sober Luxord. "Seeing as I don't want to see his mug 'round here anyways."

"Thanks Luxy!" Demyx squeed brightly.

"You're welcome friend." The Gambler of Fate smirked. "But it'll cost ya."

"Huh?" apprehension edged cerulean eyes.

"Play a little game with us, Dem."

"I-I normally like games but –" the blonde sputtered.

"That's great! Then earn your stay and play with us!" Luxord interrupted, shuffling the cards further.

"O-okay." Demyx shook his head nervously, pulling up a chair between the two men. "So what are we playing?"

"Poker!" the Brit answered enthusiastically.

"Uh…" Demyx blinked slowly.

"What's the matter kid?" Xigbar spoke up. "Don't know how to play?" The water wielder shook his head 'yes' fervently, blushing.

"Well, it's not that hard!" Luxord shrugged. "Let's see here: First, the dealer – the one who passes out the cards – rotates, but for simplicities sake, I'll stay the dealer. Each hand, one or more players are forced to make bets that the rest of us play for. The bets are in the form of chips, each with their own denomination. The number on them represent real money that will be given to the winner. At least, that's how I play. The dealer – that's me - shuffles the cards, cuts, and the appropriate number of cards are dealt to the players one at a time. Then the cards are dealt either face-up or face-down, depending on what version of poker is being played. The most popular version is called Texas Hold'em, and… you aren't following, are you?"

"Uh…" Demyx wiped away the drool gathering at the side of his mouth. "Could we play something simpler?"

"Okay, Demyx." Luxord sighed, disappointed. "How about Rummy?"

"Rummy?"

"Don't know how to play that one either, huh?" Xigbar laughed.

"So what?!" the younger member whined, blushing even harder.

"Okay, then Number Nine." The gambler shook his head. "Rummy, or gin rummy. All you have to do is make melds and –"

"Aw, lay of 'em, crumpet." The free shooter called.

"Crumpet? Just because I'm British –"

"Anywhoo, why don't we play something real nice and easy, eh?"

"What are you, Canadian?" Luxord muttered under his breath. "Alright, Demyx. Let's play a nice game of 'Go Fish', okay?"

"M'kay." He nodded, biting his lip.

"Do you know how to play Go Fish, Demyx?" the other asked sarcastically.

"Well, duh! Doesn't everybody?" the blonde retorted.

"Do you want to play with the cutesy little animal cards, or with the big boy's cards?" Luxord prodded.

"Oh ya? Well, NyAaAaAaAa!" the sitar player stuck out his tongue childishly.

"Okay, so we play with the animal cards. Good thing Zexion's not here, or he'd have some stinkin' camera jerry-rigged in here monitoring us and then he'd have some helluva blackmail on us, especially if he edited the audio." Xigbar sighed, rummaging through the cabinets for the alternate set of cards.

"You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?" Luxord raised an eyebrow, resting his chin atop laced fingers. And not as in drugged… for now.

"Naw, just kiddin' around." The sharpshooter shrugged. "Gotcha!" he exclaimed, pulling out the multicolored cards. They were ordered by letters A-Z and the pairs were decorated with animals corresponding with the letter. One card had the adult animal with it's terminology, and the other had the same for the offspring. For instance, the letter "F" had a picture of a frog on one card, with it's tadpole on the other.

"Oh! I wanna see what's on the "D" card!" the water wielder squealed, throwing cards onto the table until he came to the pair he was searching for. He gasped with happiness. "It's a DUCK!" he proclaimed. "And a, uh… duckling. OH!" he frantically flipped through the cards and pulled two pairs from the pile. "Hahaha! Xiggy's a fo_x_. And Luxy's a lion!"

"Really?" the one eyed man smirked, getting an evil gleam in his amber orb. "What about the others?"

"Well," Demyx began after much sorting. "The Superior, Xiggy, and Xaldy are foxes. Heh, Zexy should be in there too, but he's a zebra! Uh, Vexen's a vulture, and Lexaeus, Luxy, and Larxy are lions. Saïx is a squirrel, Axel's an alligator, and I'm a duck. So that leaves… Marluxia the mouse, and Roxas the road kill!"

"Road kill?!" Xigbar and Luxord exclaimed simultaneously.

"Heheh, just seeing if you were listening." Demyx shrugged. "Just kidding. Roxas is a rhinoceros."

"Since when was I a quadruped?" said spiky tressed teen asked amusedly, sipping on a juice box.

"Huh? Oh! Roxy!" the sitar player squeaked, getting up from the table and glomping his friend.

"U-ugh! Gerroff me!" Roxas complained, trying to scrape the older teen off of himself. "I-I uh… DEMYX!"

"Heheh… sorry." The water wielder blushed, detaching himself from the brotherly figure.

"Uh, anyways, Xaldin's looking for you."

"Meep!" watery orbs enlarged. "You!" he glared at the Brit.

"Hmn?" Luxord looked up innocently. "You never played with us. No play no pay." He shrugged, musing over the cards. Yes, he was even at pro at Go Fish.

"Meanie." Demyx whined. "Roxy, you've gotta help me!" he begged, wheeling around. "Pweeeaaase?"

"Well, Xaldin can't kill you if you're not here right?" the towhead said.

"Uh huh?"

"So…?" Roxas waited. But this _was_ Demyx he was dealing with.

"So I can't be here unless I wanna get my butt pwned?" the mullet haired male suggested.

"Exactly."

"Okie dokie then! I'll go for a walk!" the other squeed, problem solved.

"I don't think so." The Keybearer sighed. _God he's dense! _"If you don't have a reason for going somewhere, then you're just being a coward and running away."

"I'm not a coward!" Demyx protested indignantly, recalling several times he had done such… thoughts of three headed snarling dogs with glowing red eyes. He shivered. The Coliseum sucked. Period.

"Then find a reason for leaving so he won't get mad at you. You can just say that you forgot that you had something else to do, 'kay?" Roxas explained.

"Oh… good idea, Roxy!" the ninth member agreed, marching to the door. "Uh… Roxy? Where am I gonna find something to do?"

"Larxene." The teen said bluntly, tossing the juice basket into the waste basket across the room and drawing up a chair at the table.

* * *

"Okay, so explain to me what we're supposed to be doing again." The Melodious Nocturne asked, fiddling with his seatbelt. 

"Find stocking stuffers for everyone." A disgruntled Axel answered, starting up the engine of his Ferrari.

"Ah okay." The other nodded, stomach prematurely knotting up with dread. Axel looked over and must have seen the panic dancing in his friend's eyes, paled complexion, or ghostly white knuckles, because he quipped, "Ah common, Dem. You trust me, right?"

"Eh…" Demyx forced a smile, sweat gathering at his brow.

"Right?" Axel reinstated.

"Erm, well…" the water user twirled his fingers together truthfully.

"GAH!" the Flurry of Dancing Flames exclaimed, striking the center of the steering wheel with the heel of his palm. Maybe he _was_ a bad driver. Only Zexion had told him that before. And Saïx… and Roxas… and Marluxia… and Larxene… and – alright that was enough of that. But it was sooo _fun_.

"Here lemme explain it to ya." He began, pulling out of the driveway. "When you laugh, I laugh. When you cry, I cry. When you jump out of a window… I'll laugh harder." He smirked, showing a fang.

"EH? Heeey!" Demyx pouted, slapping his friend on the shoulder roughly. "Gee, thanks man. You're a real pal!" Axel only chuckled and smiled evilly.

"Oh ya?" the sitar player huffed in mock hurt. "When you get a speeding ticket, I'll laugh harder. Or when you set yourself on fire, or when you stab yourself with a chakram AGAIN, or when you set the orange juice on fire AGAIN, or when you burn Saïx's blanket in the living room AGAIN, or when you –"

"Ya, ya. I hear ya." The chakram wielder waved him off, switching the dials on the dashboard. "And those all happened one time."

"Except for the last three." Demyx rolled his eyes. "You stabbed yourself during training like a hundred and two times a couple years ago. And then again last month when you were trying to do some retarded stunt with them."

"Ah common. You're music sucked when you started out!" Axel complained. "We had just been given our weapons then! You try learning how to use those things – they're murder." He remembered darkly. After pricking your hands apart for the fifth time in a single hour, you learn relatively quickly to avoid the blades.

"Okay, then what about the orange juice?" the Melodious Nocturne challenged, changing the radio station.

"Oh that!" the redhead thought back fondly. "That was after I accidentally set Saïx's blanket on fire the first time. Uh… he pwned me needless to say. So I got back at him. Didja see his face? It was priceless." He giggled madly.

"Yup, and he's never touched the pitcher's since. Well, only when he has too." Demyx nodded. "But then –?"

"Oh, the second time was getting back for him getting back at me for getting back at him for getting back at me for accidentally setting the frikken thing on fire in the first place." The pyro explained nonchalantly.

"Uh… sure?" his friend blinked, completely lost.

"It's a love-hate, scratch that, it's a hate-hate relationship." The redhead shrugged, running the light. "Heeey!" he grinned, turning up the dial on the radio. "Pussycat Dolls!"

"You perv." Demyx sighed, singing along to "Buttons" in his head.

"Ah, common. It could be worse." Axel pouted. "A lot worse." A smirk.

"Erm… so where are we going to anyways?"

"Wal-mart. 'Cause I'm cheap like that."

"Better not let Larxene hear that." Demyx warned.

"Who said I'm getting hers here?! All the rest of 'em suck, so they get crappy stuff." The pyro snorted.

"What about Zexy, and Xiggy, and Roxy?" the water wielder frowned.

"Hmn, they get some good stuff. The rest suck though."

"So what'll we get them?"

"Coal." Axel joked. "Serves 'em right, the jerks."

* * *

"Welcome to Wal-Mart, chilluns!" an old man waved merrily to Numbers Eight and Nine as they entered the store. 

"Hey, gramps." Axel replied harshly.

"Need a basket?" the man asked, itching his bald, speckled head. Apparently he was deaf too.

"Yup!" Demyx nodded, taking one from the stall. "See ya, baldy!" He paused upon entering the main store, staring around wide-eyed. "Wooow." He gaped.

"What?" the redhead snapped, eager to get back to his girlfriend.

"It's so BIG!" the blonde exclaimed. "There's so much stuff, and lots of people, and low prices, and a really cool smiley face dude too!"

"Haven't you ever been to a Wal-Mart before?" Axel asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Nuh-uh."

"Geez! Have you been living under a rock all your… err… non-life?" the chakram wielder exclaimed incredulously, ushering the last bit.

"OMG!" Demyx burst out, spotting something unusual or shiny. Probably both.

"You can say 'oh my God' you know, it's not like it's sacrilegious or anything."

"Ya, well… uh… ya but 'OMG' is quicker to say." The blonde declared.

"Ya, and it doesn't offend anyone's religion either!" Axel said sarcastically, purposefully raising the tone in his voice.

"Ya, that too!" Demyx agreed, missing the whole sarcasm bit.

"Egh, come on, Mullet Man." His friend shook his head, dragging their cart along as the blonde pushed it.

"But, Axelly! I swear I just saw a hobo walking in here with one shoe carrying a spoon!" the water user protested.

"I'm sure you did."

"But honest! I wanna go poke 'em!"

"You'll get rabies or something."

"Will not! Common! It'll be cool!"

"You see lots of people like that around here." The redhead explained.

"Really?" the cart stopped. "Axel?"

"Hmn?"

"Are you poor?" Demyx asked seriously.

"What the?! No richer than you if that's saying anything!" his friend spat, flustered. "We all live off Xemnas, so it's not like we even have money of our own to spend. What made you ask me that anyways?"

"Well, if most people who shop here are hobos –"

"I DIDN'T SAY THAT!" Axel checked himself before people noticed the little fiery motes that were beginning to form around the pair. "I just meant that people of lower class or don't have a lot of money shop here. And all the employee's are nice for the most part too." He explained calmly.

"So… why do you shop here if the money isn't your own? I mean, it's not like you to respect the Superior and be nice enough to keep your bill low." The blonde pointed out.

"Ya, well…" Axel trailed off. "It's just something I'm used to."

"Huh? What do ya mean?" the younger man asked, browsing the shelves.

"Well, um…" the redhead flushed in embarrassment. "My other wasn't really all that wealthy. He got paid just enough to sustain himself and purchase the extra supplies he needed for his career." Demyx perked up. Axel never talked about his other before.

"What was he like?" he asked, brimming with curiosity.

"Like me, sorta." The redhead shrugged. "He didn't have my markings exactly, his were broader and red and done more on his cheeks stretching from just a bit before the ears. His hair wasn't as spiky and it was longer, held back in a ponytail. Other than that, we're identical."

"I mean as a person. Who was he? What did he do for a living? Ya know, stuff like that." The blonde pried, hoping to weasel out a bit more information.

"His name was Reno. I can't remember what his last name would have been. He became what is called a 'Turk' – a highly skilled mercenary employed by Shin-ra Electric Power Company. Turks have one name, a codename, that isn't even their real name for security. They're put under rigorous training at a young age, and if they make it, then their history is erased, there's a fake funeral, and they assume a one named identity. He specialized in fighting with the electric rod and was a skilled martial artist, something I inherited from him it seems. But our element has always been fire – he reveled in bombs and the manufacturing of them, something his friend Rude specialized in. Reno… he was the youngest and fastest of the Turks. In fact, the only one next closest in age to him would have been Elena… in other words, Larxene."

"WHAT?!" Demyx erupted, caught off guard. "Larxene and you knew each other all this time?" he whispered, shrugging off the glances of other shoppers.

"Ya, sorta." Axel snickered. "We were in one of those training camps after being accepted as a Turk when we lost our hearts. What's weird is that we lost all memory and have only been getting it back over the years. Even stranger is that Reno and Elena are still alive, as our Somebody's rather than Heartless. That's how I know so much more about Reno – he's still out there and doesn't even know I exist. When he became me, or when I… err… when I came into existence, he wasn't a full fledged Turk. Hell, he and Elena were only fourteen at the time, attending a special Shin-ra Academy."

"Wow… that's so cool Axel." The blonde whispered in awe. "I wish I knew that much about Dyme and his friends."

"Your Somebody?"

"Ya." Demyx nodded. "The sad thing is, I don't think he actually had friends. I think the loneliness was what turned him into a Heartless and all. I don't know if he snapped back like Reno, Elena, and Sora, but…" he let out an uncharacteristic remorseful sigh. "I don't really like to think about it much. Dyme came from a nice family with an older and younger brother. He had lots of friends at school and all and made it to his Junior year."

"More than what I can say for what I got outta Reno." The redhead interjected.

"Heh. Dyme got alright grades, A's, B's, and a C generally. He hated Science, don't really know why. Just not his thing. Not mine either really. He started a garage band in his Freshman year with two of his…" Demyx stared at Axel unexpectantly.

"What?" Axel frowned.

"It's kinda funny. He had two really good friends, like me. What's funnier is that they remind me a lot of you and Roxas. Heh, but anyways. One of the guys moved away half-way through the year."

"The Roxas-ish one?"

"Uh huh. They couldn't find anyone they liked or that fit their tastes to fill in for the guy, so they disbanded. Dyme still played guitar – he had been lead guitar and vocals – and he studied extra hard in English when they covered the poetry section. Soon he started to write really, really good lyrics and compose music in his free time. He was singing to himself in a café one day, and the owner of a record company was there and heard him. He said that he wanted to sponsor Dyme to perform at a couple of different events and see how well he was received. Things were supposed to stay low-key, but people at school began to figure things out after his first few performances. He became more and more popular at school and on the local music scene.

Soon, he didn't have any real friends left. Everyone always tried to use him, or mocked him, or hated him out of jealousy. His parents started pressuring him to get straight A's, and would reprimand him if he didn't do well enough to their expectations. His little brother idolized him and pestered him, and his older brother always said that it was a stupid thing for him to get involved in. But Dyme… he always kept smiling, even though he was so lonely and no one understood him anymore. He hadn't changed, but nobody could see him the same anymore. Everyone that is, except his girlfriend. He really loved her, and she stuck with him the whole way through and was always there to encourage him. Soon, he was out on a tour with two big name bands as a solo act. On the third day of the tour, an hour before he was supposed to perform, he got a call that his girlfriend had died in a car crash. He still went on with the show, but never made it passed the opening song. It was one that he had written to her and it hurt him so much to have to have the past and present collide. He… he broke down on stage and announced to the audience that he was sorry, but he couldn't do anymore and told everyone what had happened.

He received a lot of sympathy mail after that, but he just lost his will to live after that. She was the only one that knew him, that saw him as himself. He stopped trying to hide his pain behind cheerfulness and just… submitted to darkness and well, here I am. It's kinda a shame, but I do share one thing in common with him for sure – we're both afraid of being alone." He looked up at Axel sheepishly. "I know that I get on your nerves a lot, and on everyone else's too, but… I'm afraid of being rejected and I just need a companion that will at the least let me tag along. If I can lie to myself and say that I'm wanted, then I can believe it and shove away all the doubt that I'm nothing. I don't want to remember his… our pain again. It's just too depressing. So, like him, I try really hard to be happy all the time, for everyone. 'Cause I don't want anyone else to go through that stuff too. If I can be there for someone, just by existing, just by brightening their day a little, then maybe they won't feel so hollow and alone. And then I can feel like I'm needed too…" he gulped and looked at his feet. The two hadn't realized it, but they had come to a complete stand still minutes ago.

"D-Demyx…" Axel stared at the blonde dumbfounded. "I never… geez, why didn't you just say so earlier, man?"

"I don't want to be a burden." The water wielder wrung his hands together, still staring downwards.

"Dude… then why not just be yourself? I mean, wouldn't it make you feel better than to have to lie to everyone _and_ yourself all the time?" the redhead asked worriedly.

"Huh? I am myself, honest. Well, until something comes up that makes me remember. And that only makes me wanna try harder." The ninth member said earnestly.

"Okay, man. Just don't do it if it only hurts you more." Axel relented apprehensively, scratching the back of his neck.

"Axel?" Demyx's eyes flickered upwards to meet the older man's for a moment, long enough to tell that they were brimming with sadness and hope.

"Ya?" the eighth member responded softly, still shocked by what he had heard.

"Don't tell the others please. I don't want them to worry about me; I'm fine, for the most part at least. There's a lot more to be happy about in this life. Sometimes I kinda feel guilty 'cause I have it so much easier then Dyme."

"Sure." Axel agreed.

"And…"

"Hmn?"

"Nothing." The blonde said quickly.

"No, what?" the chakram wielder persisted.

"Uh… do you think of me as your friend? Like a real friend, as in not a co-worker or acquaintance or peer or something? A friend as in someone you could just sit next to and not have to say anything at all and enjoy listening to music together and tossing about problems and being there when we need to be and… eh… never mind. Sorry, just –"

"Why are you saying sorry?" Axel interjected determinedly. "And, yes, I do see you as a friend. Now more than ever, if you don't take that in a bad way. I just mean that I feel a lot closer to you now that we know the real us. It's kinda neat to know something that no one else does, ya know? But that's kinda what friendship does to ya, makes you more understanding of people, and less quick to judge. Makes you more forgiving too."

"Ya." Demyx exhaled with relief and sheer happiness. "I'm really glad I have a real friend, especially such a great one like you, Axel. Just 'cause we're friends doesn't mean we're kind to each other _all_ the time though." He laughed. "I'd miss that."

"Heh, me too Muller-Man. Me too." The redhead smirked, messing with his friend's hair.

"Gah! Not the mullet, not the mullet!" the sitar player protested lightly. "Come on! I wanna see the rest of the store!"

"Alright little buddy. If we go down this aisle, then we should find the –"

"OMG! Axel, look!" Demyx interjected, pointing ahead to a large wall filled with turquoise water framed with black plastic.

"Um, okay… they're _fish_." Axel shrugged, cocking a brow.

"I know!" the Melodious Nocturne squeed as he raced off to the tanks. Sighing, the pyro followed him, pulling the basket along. Being a water user, the ninth member had a fetish with all things aquarian.

"Oookay, moving on then." The chakram wielder said in a disturbed tone, trying to pry his friend from the glass.

"WAIT!" Demyx protested, clawing at the multiple tanks filled with colorful fish. "Look at how cuuute they are!"

"They're adorable." Axel said sarcastically.

"Let's get 'em!"

"…Why?"

"To put in everyone's stockings!" the blonde answered, recalling their mission.

"… Demyx… you can't put fish… in a stocking." Axel spoke slowly.

"Uh… why?" the sitar player cocked his head to the side curiously.

"Because they'll DIE, you moron!" Axel exclaimed obviously.

"…Oh…" the ninth member chuckled. "Forgot 'bout that."

"Let's find that stuff we need." The redhead sighed, tugging his friend along.

* * *

"Hey Demyx?" the pyro spoke up, tying a bag closed and loading it into the trunk. He had been thinking over their conversation and had finally reached a conclusion. 

"Nya?" the teen replied in a cattish way.

"Finish loading up the car and wait for me, 'kay? I'll be back in a few minutes." He said cryptically, knowing the other wouldn't question him. He strolled back into Wal-Mart passed "Baldy" and through the store until he reached the very back. Standing before the giant wall of plastic and water, Axel examined the specimens carefully, even bothering to read an ID tag or two. Finally, he made his selection and called an employee over. He had the clear bag in his hands, staring down at the little fish in wonder. There were nine of them – resembling miniature koi with splotches of orange, white, and black adorning their scales. He never really had tried to stop and understand Demyx, with them being opposing elements and all. But looking closely at the tiny creatures, he could see how gracefully they moved and how elegant they could look. And these fish – to him at least – always seemed to look happy. Very much like a certain friend of his. Hopefully that friend would know how to take care of them, and not take them out of water.

"I am _sooo_, so, sorry!" Axel shook his head apologetically at the little fish. The nine fish seemed to have read his thoughts, it seemed, because they all stopped and gave him an optic death ray.

* * *

So... what didja think? If anyone's still there of course... O-O 


End file.
